Ringan Gilhaize, or, The Covenanters

by John Galt

  CHAPTER LXXXIV

  The place where we met was a deep glen, the scroggy sides whereof wereas if rocks, and trees and brambles, with here and there a yellowprimrose and a blue hyacinth between, had been thrown by some wildarchitect into many a difficult and fantastical form. Over a ledge ofrock fell the bright waters of the Esk, and in the clear linn the troutsshuttled from stone and crevice, dreading the persecutions of theangler, who, in the luxury of his pastime, heedeth not what they may intheir cool element suffer.

  It was then the skirt of the afternoon, about the time when the sweetbreathing of flowers and boughs first begins to freshen to the gentlesenses, and the shadows deepen in the cliffs of the rocks and darkenamong the bushes. The yellow sunbeams were still bright on theflickering leaves of a few trees, which here and there raised theirtufty heads above the glen; but in the hollow of the chasm the eveninghad commenced, and the sobriety of the fragrant twilight was coming on.

  As we assembled one by one, we said little to each other. Some indeedsaid nothing, nor even shook hands, but went and seated themselves onthe rocks, round which the limpid waters were swirling with a soft andpleasant din, as if they solicited tranquillity. For myself, I had comewith the sternest intents, and I neither noticed nor spoke to any one;but going to the brink of the linn, I sat myself down in a gloomy nook,and was sullen, that the scene was not better troubled into unison withthe resentful mood of my spirit.

  At last Mr Renwick came, and when he had descended into the dell, wherewe were gathered together, after speaking a few words of courtesy tocertain of his acquaintance, he went to a place on the shelvy side ofthe glen, and took his station between two birch-trees.

  "I will be short with you, friends," said he; "for here we are too nighunto the adversaries to hazard ourselves in any long debate; andtherefore I will tell you, as a man speaking the honesty that is withinhim, I neither can nor do approve of the paper that I understand someamong you desire we should send forth. I have, however, according towhat was exhibited to me in private, brought here a proclamation, suchas those who are most vehement among us wish to propound; but I stillleave it with yourselves to determine whether or not it should beadopted--entering, as I here do, my caveat as an individual against it.This paper will cut off all hope of reconciliation--we have alreadydisowned King Charles, it is true; but this implies, that we are alsoresolved to avenge, even unto blood and death, whatsoever injury we mayin our own persons and friends be subjected to suffer. It pledges us toa war of revenge and extermination; and we have to consider, before wewage the same, the strength of our adversary--the craft of hiscounsellors--and the malice with which their fears and their hatred willinspire them. For my own part, fellow-sufferers, I do doubt if there beany warrandice in the Scriptures for such a defiance as this papercontains, and I would fain entreat you to reflect, whether it be notbetter to keep the door of reconciliation open, than to shut it forever, as the promulgation of this retaliatory edict will assuredly do."

  The earnest manner in which Mr Renwick thus delivered himself had apowerful effect, and many thought as he did, and several rose and saidthat it was not Christian to bar the door on peace, and to shut out eventhe chance of contrition on the part of the King and his ministers.

  I heard what they said--I listened to what they argued--and I allowedthem to tell that they were willing to agree to more moderate counsels;but I could abide no more.

  "Moderation!--You, Mr Renwick," said I, "counsel moderation--yourecommend the door of peace to be still kept open--you doubt if theScriptures warrant us to undertake revenge; and you hope that ourforbearance may work to repentance among our enemies. Mr Renwick, youhave hitherto been a preacher, not a sufferer; with you the resistanceto Charles Stuart's government has been a thing of doctrine--of no morethan doctrine, Mr Renwick--with us it is a consideration of facts. Judgeye therefore between yourself and us,--I say between yourself and us;for I ask no other judge to decide, whether we are not, by all the lawsof God and man, justified in avowing, that we mean to do as we are doneby.

  "And, Mr Renwick, you will call to mind, that in this sore controversy,the cause of debate came not from us. We were peaceable Christians,enjoying the shade of the vine and fig-tree of the Gospel, planted bythe care and cherished by the blood of our forefathers, protected by thelaws, and gladdened in our protection by the oaths and the covenantswhich the King had sworn to maintain. The presbyterian freedom ofworship was our property,--we were in possession and enjoyment, no mancould call our right to it in question,--the King had vowed, as acondition before he was allowed to receive the crown, that he wouldpreserve it. Yet, for more than twenty years, there has been a mostcruel, fraudulent, and outrageous endeavour instituted, and carried on,to deprive us of that freedom and birthright. We were asking no newthing from Government, we were taking no step to disturb Government, wewere in peace with all men, when Government, with the principles of arobber and the cruelty of a tyrant, demanded of us to surrender thoseimmunities of conscience which our fathers had earned and defended; todeny the Gospel as it is written in the Evangelists, and to accept thecommentary of Charles Stuart, a man who has had no respect to the mostsolemn oaths, and of James Sharp, the apostate of St Andrews, whosecrimes provoked a deed, that but for their crimson hue, no man couldhave doubted to call a most foul murder. The King and his crew, MrRenwick, are, to the indubitable judgment of all just men, the causersand the aggressors in the existing difference between his subjects andhim. In so far, therefore, if blame there be, it lieth not with us norin our cause.

  "But, sir, not content with attempting to wrest from us our inheritedfreedom of religious worship, Charles Stuart and his abettors havepursued the courageous constancy with which we have defended the same,with more animosity than they ever did any crime. I speak not to you, MrRenwick, of your own outcast condition,--perhaps you delight in theperils of martyrdom; I speak not to those around us, who, in theirpersons, their substance, and their families, have endured the torture,poverty, and irremediable dishonour,--they may be meek and hallowed men,willing to endure. But I call to mind what I am and was myself. I thinkof my quiet home,--it is all ashes. I remember my brave first-born,--hewas slain at Bothwell-brigg. Why need I speak of my honest brother; thewaves of the ocean, commissioned by our persecutors, have triumphed overhim in the cold seas of the Orkneys; and as for my wife, what was she toyou? Ye cannot be greatly disturbed that she is in her grave. No, ye arequiet, calm, and prudent persons; it would be a most indiscreet thing ofyou, you who have suffered no wrong yourselves, to stir on her account;and then how unreasonable I should be, were I to speak of two fair andinnocent maidens.--It is weak of me to weep, though they were mydaughters. O men and Christians, brothers, fathers! but ye are contentto bear with such wrongs, and I alone of all here may go to the gates ofthe cities, and try to discover which of the martyred heads moulderingthere belongs to a son or a friend. Nor is it of any account whether thebones of those who were so dear to us, be exposed with the remains ofmalefactors, or laid in the sacred grave. To the dead all places arealike; and to the slave what signifies who is master. Let us thereforeforget the past,--let us keep open the door of reconciliation,--smotherall the wrongs we have endured, and kiss the proud foot of the trampler.We have our lives; we have been spared; the merciless blood-hounds havenot yet reached us. Let us therefore be humble and thankful, and cry toCharles Stuart, O King live for ever!--for he has but cast us into afiery furnace and a lion's den.

  "In truth, friends, Mr Renwick is quite right. This feeling ofindignation against our oppressors is a most imprudent thing. If wedesire to enjoy our own contempt, and to deserve the derision of men,and to merit the abhorrence of Heaven, let us yield ourselves to allthat Charles Stuart and his sect require. We can do nothing better,nothing so meritorious, nothing by which we can so reasonably hope forpunishment here and condemnation hereafter. But if there is one man atthis meeting,--I am speaking not of shapes and forms, but offeelings,--if there is one here that feels as men were wont to feel, hewil
l draw his sword, and say with me, Woe to the house of Stuart! Woe tothe oppressors! Blood for blood! Judge and avenge our cause, O Lord!"