1649. by his ill conduct, and Charles II. being utterly unable to recover it, he ought to esteem himself happy, that his Scotch fubjects had offered him the crown of his antient kingdom, on the fame terms it had been enjoyed by his ancestors for many ages; and that in becoming a good Scotfman, he would be restored to what his predeceffors, kings of Scotland, had formerly been: that it was not reasonable to fuffer perfons excommunicate, and confpirators against the state, in attempting, by force, to restore the late king, to approach the new king with their pernicious counfels, tending to fow divifion between him and his fubjects. Reasons and interefts of the king. But the king reasoned upon other principles. The offer of the crown of Scotland was no farther regarded by him, than as a means of restoring him to the throne of England; that was the principal object of his attention. He little cared to be king of Scotland, if he could not use the forces of that kingdom to procure him the English crown. Mean while, his power was to be fo limited that it fhould not be poffible to receive any advantage from Scotland to that end. Those who were esteemed by him as his best friends, and had used their utmost endeavours to free his father and restore him to the enjoyment of his rights, were to be removed from his perfon and council, and yet these were the men he defigned to employ for the recovery of England. In accepting the crown of Scotland, he was to forget, he had any juft claim to England; he was to govern Scotland as his anceftors governed it before their acceffion to the English throne; that is to fay, he was to look upon his English friends with continual distrust, and confequently renounce all hope of a re-establishment in England. He was to fwear to the national covenant, made against the king his father, the intent of which was to prevent for ever the introducing the church government and worship of England into Scotland, which alone in his opinion were lawful. He was to fwear to the covenant of the two kingdoms, the fole defign of which was to maintain prefbyterianism already established in England, which was an infallible way to make him lose all his friends. He was, laftly, not only to approve and protect prefbyterianism in the two kingdoms, but also promise a fincere and conftant profeffion of it himself. But this was directly contrary to his fentiments and confcience, fince he hardly believed the prefbyterians to be any part of the chriftian church. Hence diffembles III. p. 26 the covenant own perfon. Hence it appears that the inrerefts of the king and thofe, 1649. of the Scots were no lefs oppofite than during the life of Charles I. and that the fame difficulties ftill fubfifting, could The king be furmounted only by the arms or acquiefcence of one of his relentthe parties. The king was unable to ufe force, and yet the ment. terms to be impofed upon him appeared fo hard, that Clarendon, he would have immediately rejected them, if he could have Phillips. taken any other courfe. But his melancholy circumftances, Burnet. not knowing where to fubfift or even to be fafe, obliged him, though very unwilling, to diffemble his refentment, and to treat with the Scotch commiffioners upon propofitions which to him feemed most unjust. There were two articles which he could not digeft. The firft was, the obligation to swear to the covenant. He faid, the covenant was made for the Forms difficlries upon subjects, and not for the prince, fince the taker fwore to be faithful to the king, and it was abfurd to make him swear and religion allegiance to himself. This objection would have been un- as they reanfwerable, had the covenant contained only this article. lated to his But there were others, in which it was faid, the king was Clarendon, no lefs concerned than his fubjects. The fecond related to III. p. 267. religion. He was willing, he faid, to confent to the efta- Phillips, blifhment of prefbytery in Scotland by act of parliament: but, as to his own perfon, he could not with juftice be required to renounce the religion for which the king his father had died a martyr.; however, he would content himself with only three chaplains to celebrate divine fervice in his prefence after the manner of the church of England. But The comall he could alledge was ineffectual; the commiffioners had will not not power to recede from any article. Thus had the parlia- recede. ment of England offered to treat with his father, without leaving him other liberty than to accept or refufe their propofitions. But though the king perceived it would be to Are amufed, no purpose to difpute upon the articles, he defired however phillips. to prolong the negotiation as much as poffible, in hopes of good news from Scotland, where he knew the marquis of Montrofe would fhortly make his appearance. This was his laft refuge; and had the marquis been attended with his former fuccefs, the treaty of Breda would foon have ended, fince it was in the king's power to reject abfolutely the offered conditions. But the marquis's progrefs did not answer the king's expectations. P. 595. miffioners by the king. marquis of After that lord had left the king at the Hague, he went in- The proto Germany to endeavour to raile forces and money, the grefs of the king having only given him a bare commiffion without other Mantrofe in affiftance. The king of Denmark, as Charles's near rela- Germany. VOL. XI. C tion, 1650. tion, furnished him with a fum of money, and the English fettled in Sweden affifted him to the utmost of their power. Clarendon, With this relief he was enabled to buy arms and ammuniIII. p. 270, tion, and to lift five hundred foldiers, which he fent in &c. Phillips. He arrives in Clarendon, The conduct offenfive to ment of againft Phillips. March to one of the ifles of Orkney. He followed them himfelf in April, and from thence repaired with his troops to Cathness in the north of Scotland. This was at the very time the Scotch commiffioners were with the king at Breda. As the king was informed that Montrofe was now gone for Scotland, he waited the fuccefs of the expedition, before he would conclude with the commiffioners, whom he neverthelefs entertained with hopes of granting their demands. After the marquis's arrival at Cathness, he seized a castle where he might fecure his arms and ammunition, and then writ to his friends to join him. At the fame time he published a manifefto, declaring," That he was come with a commiffion from the king to protect his good fubjects; but with no defign to obftruct the negotiation at Breda; on "the contrary, he hoped to haften the conclufion of it by means of his army. If the treaty fucceeded, he fhould "readily lay down his arms on the first command from his "majefty." 66 The Scotch parliament then fitting at Edinburgh was furof the king prifed to hear of Montrofe's arrival in that juncture, with the the parlia- king's commiffion. It was not difficult to perceive that, whatever was pretended, this was not to advance the treaty, Scotland; but rather to obftruct it, and force the parliament to defift I. p. 272. from conditions which were thought neceffary for the fafety of the kingdom. It may well be imagined, this tended not which raises to breed a good opinion of the king's fincerity. 6000 men Mean while, as Montrofe was very formidable, by reason Montrofe. of his former great fucceffes in favour of the late king, the parliament gave immediate orders for raifing, with all poffible expedition, an army of fix thousand men, under the fent before command of David Lefley. Till the army was ready, colonel Straughan was detached with three hundred horse to the northward, in order to awe the country, and prevent the king's friends from rifing and joining Montrofe. This pre caution had a furprifing effect. The king's adherents, whe ther through fear of falling into the hands of Straughan, on because of the fix thousand men which were to follow, durf not ftir, and Montrofe was joined only by fome ill armed and worfe difciplined highlanders. So, his little army, if it dè ferves that name, compofed of foldiers of different nations ftrangers to one another's language, and in a barren country, Stranghan with 300 horie Bates. coul furprized, could make no great progrefs. Befides, as Montrofe had 1650. no cavalry to send out for intelligence, he knew not what paffed in other places, and particularly Straughan's march, vainly expecting the king's adherents to come and join him. Tothis ignorance was owing his being furprised by Straughan's little troop, which, after a long march, fell upon him when leaft expected. At the approach of the enemy, the Montrofe highlanders deferted and fled; the foreigners made more re- defeated, fiftance, but were routed at laft. The marquis himself be- and taken ing forced to fly, threw away his ribband and george, dif- prifoner. guiling himself like a peafant to prevent a difcovery. He Clarendon, wandered fome days in that habit, and at laft put himself III. p. 272, into the hands of a gentleman, named Afton, who had for- 273merly served under him, and promised to conceal him. But, whether through the hope of the reward publifhed for taking him, or the fear of being rigorously punished if he did not discover him, it is certain, he delivered him to Lefley, who immediately fent him to Edinburgh. The parliament now fitting refolved to try him themselves; and as, fince his degradation, he was called only James Graham, and was univerfally hated, no regard was paid to his birth. He was Condemned condemned to be hanged on a gallows thirty feet high; c. with this addition to his fentence, that, after he was dead, May 20. his head should be fevered from his body, and set on Edin- P. 274. burgh talbooth; his arms and legs fent to four several towns, to be expofed as a fpectacle, and his body buried under the gallows. He met death with extraordinary courage, and fpeech bebefore his execution, made a speech to the people, in which, fore his exefar from owning himself worthy of death, he teftified, on the cut on. contrary, an entire perfuafion of the justice of the cause he had fupported. He faid that Charles I. died a martyr, and Phillips, affured the people, the new king would obferve all his pro- ; 598. mifes to the Scots, wherein he was as falfe a prophet as the lord Capel had been in England. Thus fell the marquis of Montrole, who had rendered himfelf famous by his great actions for the late king in Scotland, but withal, odious to bis countrymen, by his inhumanity to them, when he had the advantage. to be hang Makes a May 21. Id. p. 275. Heath. The tragical death of the marquis of Montrofe difappoint- The king ed all the king's hopes, who was thereby deprived of his laft complains of refuge. He complained loudly to the commiffioners of the tion. a There were about three hundred Aia, and five hundred taken prisoners. Whitelock, p. 454 Bates in his Elenchus Motuum C 2 his execu execution Phillips, P. 599. Bates. affures us, that Afton received two Clarendon, *houfand pounds, in reward of his III. p. 276. treachery, Rapin. of the states. 1650. execution of that lord, during the negotiation, affirming it to be a breach of faith. He writ in the fame ftrain to the committee of eftates, but was filenced by their answer, and told, it would be much better not to infift upon that affair. The answer The answer imported, that were found papers Monupon trofe, which it was more for his honour to conceal than to publifh. The king eafily understood, that by this was meant his commiffion to the marquis after the news of his being proclaimed, and his letter of the 30th of January, after the time and place of conference were fixed. This juftified the parliament of Scotland from breach of faith, of which he himself was not entirely guiltless. The king figns the treaty. June. He embarks in Holland for Scotland. June. Phillips. Arrives there, June 16, and is ob The death of Montrofe leaving the king without refuge or retreat, he at laft accepted the conditions presented to him by the commiffioners. Only the figning of the covenant was deferred till his arrival in Scotland, upon his promife however of compliance, in cafe it was judged proper to press him when he should be at Edinburgh. The commiffioners were willing to grant him this favour, knowing, the estates would never defift from that article. It is certain, the king fubmitted to these conditions only because he had no other course to take, and it is, perhaps, no lefs certain, that he meant to obferve them but whilft he should be forced. This plainly appears in the hiftory of those times, penned by the king's adherents. For they could not forbear to think it ftrange that the king, when in Scotland, fhould be obliged to a strict obfervance of what he had promised by oath. As if his promise and oath had been only formalities, which were not to bind him. When the king had figned the conditions, he went to Scheveling near the Hague, and embarked, being attended by duke Hamilton, the earl of Lautherdale, and fome other Scots, who gave him hopes that his prefence in Scotland would remove all fufpicions, and that an exact obfervation of what he had promifed would be difpenfed with. But at his arrival, before he was fuffered to land, the covenant was so preffed upon him, that he could not avoid taking it. He had pofitively promifed it at Breda, and no man durft advise him to break his word. This ftrictness of the estates conClarendon, vinced duke Hamilton and the earl of Lautherdale, that it III. p. 285. Hamilton was not fafe for them to appear publickly in Scotland. Wherefore, finding means to land with the king, they retired to their own eftates, or their friends, in expectation of a more favourable junéture. L the covenant. and Lautherdale conceal themielves. The |