by John Galt
CHAPTER LXXXII
I slept in that ruinous room in the Bishop's house till far in themorning, when, on going to the window with the intent of dropping myselfinto the wynd, I saw that it was ordained and required of me to remainwhere I then was; for the inmates of the houses forenent were all astirat their respective vocations; and at the foot of the wynd, lookingstraight up, was a change-house, into which there was, even at thatearly hour, a great resorting of bein elderly citizens for their dramand snap. Moreover, at the head of the wynd, an aged carlin, with adistaff in her arms and a whorl in her hand, sat on a doorstep tending astand of apples and comfits; so that, to a surety, had I made anyattempt to escape by the window, I must have been seen by some one, andlaid hold of. I therefore retired back into the obscurity of thechamber, and sat down again on the old kist-lid, to abide the issuesthat were in reservation for me. I had not, however, been long there,till I heard the voices of persons entering into the next chamber behindwhere I was sitting, and I soon discerned by their courtesies of speech,that they were Lords of the Privy Council, who had come to walk with theBishop to the palace, where a council was summoned in sudden haste thatmorning. The matter whereof they discoursed was not at first easily madeout, for they were conversing on it when they entered; but I very soongathered that it boded no good to the covenanted cause nor to theliberties of Scotland.
"What you remark, Aberdeen," said one, "is very just; man and wife arethe same person; and although Queensberry has observed, that the revenuerequires the penalties, and that husbands ought to pay for their wives,I look not on the question in that light; for it is not right, in myopinion, that the revenues of the crown should be in any degreedependent on fines and forfeitures. But the presbyterians are a sectwhose main principle is rebellion, and it would be happy for the kingdomwere the whole race rooted out; indeed I am quite of the Duke of York'sopinion, that there will be little peace among us till the Lowlands aremade a hunting-field, and therefore am I as earnest as Queensberry thatthe fines should be enforced."
"Certainly, my Lord Perth," replied Aberdeen, "it is not to be denied,that, what with their Covenants, and Solemn Leagues, and Gospelpretensions, the presbyterians are dangerous and bad subjects; andthough I shall not go so far as to say, with the Duke, that the Lowlandsshould be laid waste, I doubt if there be a loyal subject west thecastle of Edinburgh. Still the office which I have the honour to holddoes not allow me to put any interpretation on the law different fromthe terms in which the sense is conceived."
"Then," said Perth, "if there is any doubt about the terms, the law mustbe altered; for, unless we can effectually crush the presbyterians, theDuke will assuredly have a rough accession. And it is better to stranglethe lion in his nonage than to encounter him in his full growth."
"I fear, my Lord," replied the Earl of Aberdeen, "that the presbyteriansare stronger already than we are willing to let ourselves believe. Theattempt to make them accept the episcopalian establishment has now beenmade, without intermission, for more than twenty years, and they areeven less submissive than they were at the beginning."
"Yes, I confess," said Lord Perth, "that they are most unreasonablystubborn. It is truly melancholy to see what fools many sensible menmake of themselves about the forms of worship, especially about those ofa religion so ungentlemanly as the presbyterian, which has no respectfor the degrees of rank, neither out nor in the church."
"I'm afraid, Perth," replied Aberdeen, laughing, "that what you say isapplicable both to the King and his brother; for, between ourselves, Ido not think there are two persons in the realm who attach so muchimportance to forms as they do."
"Not the King, my Lord, not the King!" cried Perth; "Charles is too mucha man of the world to trouble himself about any such trifles."
"They are surely not trifles, for they overturned his father's throne,and are shaking his own," replied Aberdeen, emphatically. "Pray, haveyou heard any thing of Argyle lately?"
"O yes," exclaimed Perth, merrily; "a capital story. He has got in witha rich burgomaster's frow at Amsterdam; and she has guilders anew toindemnify him for the loss of half the Highlands."
"Aye," replied Aberdeen, "I do not like that; for there has been of latea flocking of the presbyterian malcontents to Holland, and the Prince ofOrange gives them a better reception than an honest man should do,standing as he does, both with respect to the crown and the Duke. This,take my word for it, Perth, is not a thing to be laughed at."
"All that, Aberdeen, only shows the necessity of exterminating thesecursed presbyterians. We shall have no peace in Scotland till they areswept clean away. It is not to be endured that a King shall not rule hisown kingdom as he pleases. How would Argyle, and there was no manprouder in his jurisdictions, have liked had his tenants covenantedagainst him as the presbyterians have so insultingly done against hisMajesty's government? Let every man bring the question home to his ownbusiness and bosom and the answer will be a short one, _Down with thepresbyterians!_"
While they were thus speaking, and I need not advert to what passed inmy breast as I overheard them, Patterson the Bishop of Edinburgh camein; and with many interjections, mingled with wishes for a calmprocedure, he told the Lords of our escape. He was indeed, to do himjustice, a man of some repute for plausibility, and take him all in allfor a prelate, he was, in truth, not void of the charities of humannature, compared with others of his sect.
"Your news," said the Lord Perth to him, "does not surprise me. Thesocieties, as the Cameronians are called, have inserted their roots andfeelers every where. Rely upon't, Bishop Patterson, that, unless we chopoff the whole connexions of the conspiracy, you can hope neither forhomage nor reverence in your appointments."
"I could wish," replied the Bishop, "that some experiment were made of agentler course than has hitherto been tried. It is now a long time sinceforce was first employed: perhaps, were his Royal Highness to slackenthe severities, conformity would lose some of its terrors in the eyes ofthe misguided presbyterians; at all events, a more lenient policy coulddo no harm; and if it did no good, it would at least be free from thoseimputed cruelties, which are supposed to justify the long-continuedresistance that has brought the royal authority into such difficulties."
At this juncture of their conversation a gentleman announced, that hismaster was ready to proceed with them to the palace, and they forthwithretired. Thus did I obtain a glimpse of the inner mind of the PrivyCouncil, by which I clearly saw, that what with those members whosatisfied their consciences as to iniquity, because it was madeseemingly lawful by human statutes, and what with those who, like LordPerth, considered the kingdom the King's estate, and the people histenantry, not the subjects of laws by which he was bound as much asthey; together with those others who, like the Bishop, considered mercyand justice as expedients of state policy, that there was no hope forthe peace and religious liberties of the presbyterians, merely byresistance; and I, from that time, began to think it was only throughthe instrumentality of the Prince of Orange, then heir-presumptive tothe crown, failing James Stuart, Duke of York, that my vow could beeffectually brought to pass.