Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 4.djvu/245

Rh assembled the Scottish nobles and gentlemen then in London, and told them that he wanted their advice "what was to be done for securing the protestant religion, and restoring their laws and liberties, according to his declaration." His highness withdrew after making this request, and the duke of Hamilton was chosen to preside. The politics of his grace were quite different from those of his son; and the fact of his being selected to preside over their deliberations was an intimation of the course which the assembly intended to pursue. But Arran either did not perceive, or did not regard this circumstance; he proposed, that as the prince had desired their advice, they should move him to invite the king to return, and call a free parliament, "which, in my humble opinion," he added, "will at last be found the best way to heal all our breaches." Nobody seconded this proposal; but it seems to have astounded the deliberators a good deal: they dispersed, and did not re-assemble till the second day after, when their resolution to stand by the prince of Orange and to exclude the exiled James, having been strengthened by some remarks from the duke of Hamilton, they recommended the measures which the emergency seemed to them to require.

A short time after the settlement of the throne upon William and Mary, as the earl of Arran was passing along the streets in a chair, about eleven at night, he was set upon by four or five people with drawn swords. He defended himself courageously, and being vigorously seconded by his footman and chairmen, came off with only a few slight hurts in the hand. This incident was charged against the new monarch, as if he had sought to rid himself by assassination of one who had so very coolly, if not resolutely, opposed his reception in England. But there was neither any disposition nor any necessity for resorting to such means for weakening the ranks of the adherents of James. The attack upon the earl is believed to have proceeded from another cause ; namely, the involvement of his lordship's pecuniary affairs, and to have been the act of an exasperated creditor. The earl, however, certainly was obnoxious to government at this period. He was shortly after committed to the Tower, with Sir Robert Hamilton and two others of his countrymen; but was soon liberated upon bail; upon which he judged it prudent, both on account of the suspicion to which his political opinions exposed him, and of embarrassments in his private fortune, to retire to Scotland. There his father enjoyed the full confidence of government; his services in the convention of the states, of which he was president, having mainly contributed to the settlement of the crown upon William. Here Arran lived in retirement, the progress of affairs and the paternal authority tending to reconcile him to the revolution. At his father's death in 1695, the earl of Arran was not advanced in rank and not very much in fortune. The title of duke had been conferred upon its late possessor to be held during his lifetime, by consent of the heiress, whom he had married ; and at his death it remained with her, together with the bulk of the estate. It was not till the marriage of Arran in 1698, with lord Gerrard of Bromley's daughter, that his mother consented that her eldest son should assume the honours of the family. Upon this William, willing to gratify the family, signed a patent, creating him duke of Hamilton, with precedency in the same manner as if he had succeeded to the title by the decease of his mother.

The events hitherto recorded in this nobleman's life were not of great moment: he was a young man, acting in a great measure from personal bias, and his opinions had little weight or influence beyond the sphere of the private friends with whom he associated. We now approach a period when his conduct hi the legislative assembly of his country, determined more than that of any other