Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 4.djvu/162

508 Eager to profit by this state of things, in restoring order and concord between the king and his people, the Scottish committee, on the 2nd of September, sent a letter to the earl of Lanark, his majesty's secretary of state for Scotland, enclosing a petition which they requested him to lay before the king. To this petition, which was couched in the most delicate terms, the king returned an answer without loss of time, requiring them to state in more plain terms the claims they intended to make upon him; informing them, at the same time, that he had called a meeting of the peers of England, to meet at York on the 24th instant. This was an antiquated and scarcely legal assembly, which Charles had called by his own authority, to supersede the necessity of again calling a parliament, the only means by which the disorders of the government could now be arrested, and which the Scottish committee in their petition had requested him to call immediately. To this communication, the committee replied; "that the sum of their desires was, that his majesty would ratify the acts of the last Scottish parliament, garrison the castle of Edinburgh and the other fortresses only for the defence and security of his subjects, free their countrymen in England and Ireland from further persecution for subscribing the covenant, and press them no further with oaths and subscriptions not warranted by law—bring to just censure the incendiaries who had been the authors of these combustions—restore the ships and goods that had been seized and condemned by his majesty's orders; repair the wrongs and repay the losses that had been sustained; recall the declaration that had been issued against them as traitors—and, finally, remove, with the consent of the parliament of England, the garrisons from the borders, and all impediments to free trade, and to the peace, the religion, and liberties of the two kingdoms.

These demands were no doubt as unpalatable as ever to Charles, but the consequences of his rashness were now pressing him on all sides. His exchequer was empty, his revenue anticipated, his army undisciplined and disaffected, and himself surrounded by people who scarcely deigned to disguise their displeasure at all his measures. In such extreme embarrassment, the king clung, like a drowning man, to any expedient which presented itself, rather than again meet, with the only friends who could effectually relieve him, his parliament There was unfortunately, too, a secret party among the covenanters, who, with all the pretensions to religion and to patriotism they had put forth, were only seeking their own aggrandisement, and were determined never to admit any pacification that did not leave them at the head of public affairs. Of these, among the Scots, Montrose was the most conspicuous. We have seen with what zeal he imposed the covenant upon the recusant Aberdonians. But he had, since then, had a taste of royal favour at Berwick, and, as it was likely to advance him above every other Scotsman, his whole study, ever since that memorable circumstance, had been how he might best advance the royal interest. For this purpose he had formed an association for restoring the king to an unlimited exercise of all his prerogatives, which was subscribed at Cumbernauld, on the sixth day of the preceding July, by himself, the earl of Wigton, the lords Fleming, Boyd, and Almond, who held the place of lieutenant-general in the covenanters' army; and afterwards by the earls of Marischal, Marr, Athol, Kinghorn, Perth, Kelly, Home, and Seaforth ; and by the lords Stewart, Erskine, Drummond, Ker, and Napier. Though this association was unknown at the time, the predilections of Montrose were no secrets, and, of course, his credit among his friends was rather on the decline ; but a circumstance now occurred which displayed his character in the full light of day, and nearly extinguished any little degree of respect that yet remained to him among the members of the liberal party. It had been laid