Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 5.djvu/78

138 which sat do\vn at Edinburgh, March 14, 1689, he appeared as representative of the county of Berwick; and, an objection being made on the score of his forfaulture, he was unanimously voted a member by the house. The decision of this assembly in favour of a settlement of the crown upon William and his consort Mary, soon followed.

The career of public service was now opened to the subject of our memoir, at a period of life when his judgment must have been completely matured, and after he had proved, by many years of suffering under a tyrannical government, how worthy he was to obtain honours under one of a liberal complexion. In July, 1690, his attainder was rescinded by act of parliament; he was soon after sworn a member of the privy council ; and in December, 1690, he was created a peer by the title of lord Polwarth. The preamble of the patent is a splendid testimony to the eminent virtues he had displayed in 'asserting the rights and religion of his country. King William at the same time vouchsafed to him an addition to his armorial bearings, "an orange proper ensigned, with an imperial crown, to be placed in a surtout in his coat of arms in all time coming, as a lasting mark of his majesty's royal favour to the family of Polwarth, and in commemoration of his lordship's great affection to his said majesty."

From this period, the life of lord Polwarth is chiefly to be found in the history of his country. He was appointed in 1692, to be principal sheriff of Berwickshire, and in 1693, to be one of the four extraordinary lords of session. Though there is no trace of his having been bred to the law, his conduct in these two employments is said to have been without blemish. His reputation, indeed, for decisions conformable to the laws, for sagacity and soundness of judgment, is, perhaps, one of the most remarkable parts of the brilliant fame which he has left behind him. In 1696, he attained the highest office in Scot- land, that of lord chancellor, and in less than a year after, he was promoted in the peerage by the titles, earl of Marchmont, viscount of Blassonberry, lord Polwarth, Redbraes, and Greenlaw, to him and to his heirs male whatsoever. He was soon after named one of the commission of the treasury and admiralty; and in 1698 was appointed lord high commissioner to represent the king's person in the parliament which met at Edinburgh in July of that year. To pursue the words of Sir George Rose, who gives a sketch of the life of the earl in his preface to the Marchmont papers, "his correspondence with king William and his ministers, whilst he exercised these high functions, exhibits an earnest and constant desire to act, and to advise, as should best promote at once the honour of his master and benefactor, and the weal of the state ; and he had the good fortune to serve a prince, who imposed no duties upon him which brought into conflict his obligations to the sovereign and to his country."

The earl of Marchmont was acting as commissioner at the General Assembly of 1702, when the death of his affectionate sovereign interrupted the proceedings, and plunged him into the deepest grief. He was appointed by queen Anne to continue to preside over the assembly till the conclusion of its proceedings; but the principles of this great man were too rigid to allow of his long continuing in office under the new government. In his letter to queen Anne, written on the death of king William, he was too little of a courtier to disguise the feelings which possessed him as a man, although he must have known that every word he used in admiration or lamentation of her predecessor must have been grating to her ears. In the first session of the parliament after her accession, he presented to it an act for the abjuration of the pretender; and, though it was in conformity to, and in imitation of the English act passed immediately on her ascending the throne, and was read a first time, the high commissioner adjourned the house in order to stop the measure. In a memorial to the queen of the 1st