by John Galt
CHAPTER LXXXVI
As soon as it was known abroad that Charles the Second was dead, theCovenanters who had taken refuge in Holland from the Persecutionassembled to consult what ought then to be done; for the papist JamesStuart, on the death of his brother, had caused himself to be proclaimedKing of Scotland, without taking those oaths by which alone he could beentitled to assume the Scottish crown.
At the head of this congregation was the Earl of Argyle, who, some yearsbefore, had incurred the aversion of the tyrant to such a degree that,by certain of those fit tools for any crime, then in dismal abundanceabout the court of Holyrood, he had procured his condemnation as atraitor, and would have brought him to the scaffold, had the Earl notfortunately effected his escape. And it was resolved by thatcongregation that the principal personages then present should formthemselves into a Council, to concert the requisite measures for thedeliverance of their native land; the immediate issue of which was,that a descent should be made by Argyle among his vassals, in order todraw together a sufficient host to enable them to wage war against theUsurper, for so they lawfully and rightly denominated James Stuart.
The first hint that I gleaned of this design was through the means ofMrs Brownlee. She was invited one afternoon by the gentlewoman of theLady Sophia Lindsay, the Earl's daughter-in-law, to view certainarticles of female bravery which had been sent from Holland by hisLordship to her mistress; and, as her custom was, she, on her returnhome, descanted at large of all that she had seen and heard.
The receipt, at that juncture, of such gear from the Earl of Argyle, bysuch a Judith of courage and wisdom as the Lady Sophia Lindsay, seemedto me very remarkable, and I could not but jealouse that there was something about it like the occultation of a graver correspondence. Itherefore began to question Mrs Brownlee how the paraphernalia had come,and what the Earl, according to the last accounts, was doing; which ledher to expatiate on many things, though vague and desultory, that wereyet in concordance with what I had overheard the Lord Perth say to theEarl of Aberdeen in the Bishop's house. In the end, I gathered that thepresents were brought over by the skipper of a sloop, one RoderickMacfarlane, whom I forthwith determined to see, in order to pick fromhim what intelligence I could, without being at the time well aware inwhat manner the same would prove useful; I felt myself, however, stirredfrom within to do so; and I had hitherto, in all that concerned myavenging vow, obeyed every instinctive impulse.
Accordingly, next morning I went early to the shore of Leith, and soonfound the vessel and Roderick Macfarlane, to whom I addressed myself,inquiring, as if I intended to go thither, when he was likely to departagain for Amsterdam.
While I was speaking to him, I observed something in his mien above hiscondition; and that his hands were fair and delicate, unlike those ofmen inured to maritime labour. He perceived that I was particular in myinspection, and his countenance became troubled, and he looked as if hewist not what to do.
"Fear no ill," said I to him; "I am one in the jaws of jeopardy; insooth I have no intent to pass into Holland, but only to learn whetherthere be any hope that the Earl of Argyle and those with him will try tohelp their covenanted brethren at home."
On hearing me speak so openly the countenance of the man brightened, andafter eyeing me with a sharp scrutiny, he invited me to come down intothe body of the bark, where we had some frank communion, his confidencebeing won by the plain tale of who I was and what I had endured. TheLord indeed was pleased, throughout that period of fears andtribulation, marvellously to endow the persecuted with a singular andsympathetic instinct, whereby they were enabled at once to discern theirfriends; for the dangers and difficulties, to which we were subject inour intercourse, afforded no time for those testimonies and experiencesthat in ordinary occasions are required to open the hearts of men to oneanother.
After some general discourse, Roderick Macfarlane told me, that hisvessel, though seemingly only for traffic, had been hired by a certainMadam Smith, in Amsterdam, and was manned by Highlanders of a degreeabove the common, for the purpose of opening a correspondence betweenArgyle and his friends in Scotland. Whereupon I proffered myself toassist in establishing a communication with the heads and leaders of theCovenanters in the West Country, and particularly with Mr Renwick andhis associates, the Cameronians, who, though grievously scattered andhunted, were yet able to do great things in the way of conveyingletters, or of intercepting the emissaries and agents of the PrivyCouncil that might be employed to contravene the Earl's projects.
Thus it was that I came to be concerned in Argyle's unfortunateexpedition--if that can be called unfortunate, which, though in itself afailure, yet ministered to make the scattered children of the Covenantagain co-operate for the achievement of their common freedom. Doubtlessthe expedition was undertaken before the persecuted were sufficientlyripened to be of any effective service. The Earl counted overmuch on thespirit which the Persecution had raised; he thought that the weight ofthe tyranny had compressed us all into one body. But, alas! it had beenso great, that it had not only bruised, but broken us asunder into manypieces; and time, and care, and much persuasion, were all requisite tosolder the fragments together.
As the spring advanced, being, in the manner related, engaged infurthering the purposes of the exiled Covenanters, I prepared, throughthe instrumentality of divers friends, many in the West Country to be inreadiness to join the Earl's standard of deliverance. It is not howeverto be disguised, that the work went on but slowly, and that the peopleheard of the intended descent with something like an actionlesswonderment, in consequence of those by whom it had been planned notsending forth any declaration of their views and intents. And thisindisposition, especially among the Cameronians, became a settledreluctance, when, after the Earl had reached Campbelton, he publishedthat purposeless proclamation, wherein, though the wrongs and woes ofthe kingdom were pithily recited, the nature of the redress proposed wasin no manner manifest. It was plain indeed, by many signs, that theLord's time was not yet come for the work to thrive.
The divisions in Argyle's councils were greater even than those amongthe different orders into which the Covenanters had been long split--thevery Cameronians might have been sooner persuaded to refrain frominsisting on points of doctrine and opinion, at least till the adversarywas overthrown, than those who were with the ill-fated Earl to act withunion among themselves. In a word, all about the expedition wasconfusion and perplexity, and the omens and auguries of ruin showed howmuch it wanted the favour that is better than the strength of numbers,or the wisdom of mighty men. But to proceed.