Ringan Gilhaize, or, The Covenanters
Page 90
CHAPTER LXXXIX
Besides Mr Warner, many other ministers, who had taken refuge in foreigncountries, were called home, and it began openly to be talked that KingJames would to a surety be set aside, on account of his malversations inthe kingly office in England, and the even-down course he was pursuingthere, as in Scotland, to abolish all property that the subjects had inthe ancient laws and charters of the realm. But the thing came to nodefinite head till that jesuit-contrived device for cutting out theprotestant heirs to the crown was brought to maturity, by palming aman-child upon the nation as the lawful son of the Tyrant and hispapistical wife.
In the meantime, I had not been idle in disseminating throughout theland, by the means of the Cameronians, a faithful account of what MrWarner had related of the pious character and presbyterian dispositionsof the Prince of Orange; and through a correspondence that I opened withThomas Ardmillan, Mynheer Bentinck was kept so informed of the growingaffection for his master in Scotland, as soon emboldened the Prince,with what he heard of the inclinations of the English people, to preparea great host and navy for the deliverance of the kingdoms. In the midstof these human means and stratagems, the bright right hand of Providencewas shiningly visible; for, by the news of the Prince's preparations, itsmote the councils of King James with confusion and a fatal distraction.
Though he had so alienated the Scottish lieges, that none but the basestof men among us acknowledged his authority, yet he summoned all hisforces into England, leaving his power to be upheld here by those onlywho were vile enough to wish for the continuance of slavery. Thus wasthe way cleared for the advent of the deliverer; and the faithful noblesand gentry of Scotland, as the army was removed, came flocking intoEdinburgh, and the Privy Council, which had been so little slack in anycrime, durst not molest them, though the purpose of their being therewas a treason which the members could not but all well know. Everything, in a word, was now moving onward to a great event; all in theland was as when the thaw comes, and the ice is breaking, and the snowsmelting, and the waters flowing, and the rivers are bursting theirfrozen fetters, and the sceptre of winter is broken, and the wreck ofhis domination is drifting and perishing away.
To keep the Privy Council in the confusion of the darkness of ignorance,I concerted with many of the Cameronians that they should spreadthemselves along the highways, and intercept the government expressesand emissaries, to the end that neither the King's faction in Englandnor in Scotland might know aught of the undertakings of each other; andwhen Thomas Ardmillan sent me, from Mynheer Bentinck, the Prince'sdeclaration for Scotland, I hastened into the West Country, that I mightexhort the covenanted there to be in readiness, and from the tolboothstair of Irvine, yea, on the very step where my heart was so pierced bythe cries of my son, I was the first in Scotland to publish thatglorious pledge of our deliverance. On the same day, at the same hour,the like was done by others of our friends at Glasgow and at Ayr; andthere was shouting, and joy, and thanksgiving, and the magnificent voiceof freedom resounded throughout the land, and ennobled all hearts againwith bravery.
When the news of the Prince's landing at Torbay arrived, we felt thatliberty was come; but long oppression had made many distrustful, andfrom day to day rumours were spread by the despairing members of theprelatic sect, the breathings of their wishes, that made us doubtwhether we ought to band ourselves into any array for warfare. In thisstate of swithering and incertitude we continued for some time, till Ibegan to grow fearful lest the zeal which had been so rekindled wouldsink and go out if not stirred again in some effectual manner; so Iconferred with Quintin Fullarton, who in all these providences had beenart and part with me, from the day of the meeting with Mr Renwick nearLaswade; and as the Privy Council, when it was known the Prince had beeninvited over, had directed beacons to be raised on the tops of manymountains, to be fired as signals of alarm for the King's party when theDutch fleet should be seen approaching the coast, we devised, as a meanfor calling forth the strength and spirit of the Covenanters, that weshould avail ourselves of their preparations.
Accordingly we instructed four alert young men, of the Cameroniansocieties, severally and unknown to each other, to be in attendance onthe night of the tenth of December, at the beacons on the hills ofKnockdolian, Lowthers, Blacklarg, and Bencairn, that they might fire thesame if need or signal should so require, Quintin Fullarton havingundertaken to kindle the one on Mistylaw himself.
The night was dark, but it was ordained that the air should be moist andheavy, and in that state when the light of flame spreads farthest.Meanwhile fearful reports from Ireland of papistical intents to maintainthe cause of King James made the fancies of men awake and full ofanxieties. The prelatic curates were also so heartened by those rumoursand tidings, that they began to recover from the dismay with which thenews of the Prince's landing had overwhelmed them, and to shoot outagain the horns of antichristian arrogance. But when, about three hoursafter sunset, the beacon on the Mistylaw was fired, and when hill afterhill was lighted up, the whole country was filled with suchconsternation and panic, that I was myself smitten with the dread ofsome terrible consequences. Horsemen passed furiously in alldirections--bells were rung, and drums beat--mothers were seen flyingwith their children they knew not whither--cries and lamentations echoedon every side. The skies were kindled with a red glare, and none couldtell where the signal was first shown. Some said the Irish had landedand were burning the towns in the south, and no one knew where to fleefrom the unknown and invisible enemy.
In the meantime, our Covenanters of the West assembled at theirtrysting-place, to the number of more than six thousand armed men, readyand girded for battle; and this appearance was an assurance that nopower was then in all the Lowlands able to gainsay such a force; andnext day, when it was discovered that the alarm had no real cause, itwas determined that the prelatic priests should be openly discarded fromtheir parishes. Our vengeance, however, was not meted upon them by themeasure of our sufferings, but by the treatment which our own pastorshad borne; and, considering how many of them had acted as spies andaccusers against us, it is surprising, that of two hundred, who werebanished from the parishes, few received any cause of complaint; eventhe poor feckless thing, Andrew Dornock, was decently expelled from themanse of Quharist, on promising he would never return.
This riddance of the malignants was the first fruit of the expulsion ofJames Stuart from the throne; but it was not long till we were menacedwith new and even greater sufferings than we had yet endured. For thoughthe tyrant had fled, he had left Claverhouse, under the title ofViscount Dundee, behind him; and in the fearless activity of that proudand cruel warrior, there was an engine sufficient to have restored himto his absolute throne, as I shall now proceed to rehearse.