and supported among the clergy, that union and attachment to my just cause, which cannot but recommend them to all honest men, and much conduce both to their and my interest. I am sensible it is not easy to repair the great loss we have made of him, and on t'other hand, I think it is absolutely necessary for our mutual advantage, that some one person should in some measure fill his place, by following his example towards the clergy, and receiving from them that deference and regard, which t'other did. I know none so equal to such a trust and charge as yourself, and, therefore, I hope you will not grudge undertaking the trouble of it; and considering that our present circumstances render it impossible to comply with certain forms, I am persuaded, that my expressing here how much I desire that the Scots clergy should show you the same respect and deference, that they did to the bishop of Edinburgh, will be sufficient to make them concur with you in all matters which may tend to our mutual advantage. I desire you will communicate this, when convenient and needful; and when those concerned, see the regard I have for the church of Scotland, and the sense I have of their particular loyalty, I doubt not of their ready compliance to what I propose, only for the common good. You will sufficiently find by this, the confidence and esteem I have for you. I do not fear being disappointed, and all I have particularly to recommend to you, is the preaching of union and charity, both to clergy and laity, since it is that alone, that can, with God's blessing, make us see an end of our misfortunes, both while they last, and after it may please God to put a period to them; the welfare of the Scots clergy I shall ever have at heart, as I shall at all times be desirous of showing you the deep sense I have of your personal merit, and attachment to me and my just

cause.

The above was accompanied with one to Mr. Lockhart, approving of the steps he had taken with regard to the appointment of the bishop, and adding that bishop to the list of trustees, but declining to prefer Dalhousie to that honour. "Within this letter, (writt by his secretary, and signed by

* Lockhart Papers, vol. ii. pp. 38, 39.

1

himself,) was a little notte under the king's own hand, sealed up, in these words:- I am very impatient to have your answer to what I wrote about Argyle. This would seem a proper juncture to press him close on a certain point, and if he understood things right, he would be easily convinced that he would find his account in befriending me.' "*

After electing bishop Fullarton, Prime, and appointing him to reside at Edinburgh, the college of bishops felt themselves called upon to present an humble address to the pretender, with an account of their proceedings. I have not had the happiness to fall in with a copy of this address, but the following is the return they had to it from the pretender, dated Rome, July the second, 1720:-" We received, with particular pleasure, the first assurances you gave us of your loyalty, and of your affections to our person and family, by your address of the fifth of May. We have the deepest sense of the sufferings that the bishops and clergy of the church of Scotland have undergone, at all times, for their firm adherence to our family, and will not fail to give them the strongest marks of our protection, gratitude, and esteem, when it shall please God to put us in possession of our kingdoms. It is a satisfaction to us to know, that the bishops who survived the unhappy. revolution in our kingdoms, have promoted persons of your character to their order; and since the circumstances of past times have not permitted certain forms to be observed, we think it proper hereby to approve of your promotion, in so far as our authority is necessary to it, by the laws and constitution of that our ancient kingdom; but as to such future promotions, as may be thought necessary for the preservation of your order, we think it equally for our service, and that of your church, that, notwithstanding our present distance from you, you should propose to us such persons as you may think most worthy to be raised to that dignity. We shall, you may be assured, have all possible regard for your opinion in such cases, and ever be willing to give you marks of our favour and protection, and of our particular esteem for your persons."+ Such were the leaders, and such the sentiments of a sect,

Lockhart Papers, vol. ii. p. 41.

+Ibid. pp. 41, 42.

for which there had been so much wrangling kept up in the nation for better than twenty years. Such the men, and such the breathings of piety, which William III. was so anxious to have engrafted into the presbyterian church, by the exercise of moderation and charity—and which Anne, under the influence of Jacobite counsellors, wished to honour with a separate and a legal endowment. There is not a word in their whole correspondence, of what are the proper and legitimate ends of a gospel ministry. The bishops are studious of nothing but the interests, as they phrase it, of the king, and the would-be king is equally, or pretends to be equally studious of the interests of the bishops; while, between them, the interests of God, and the interests of his people, are entirely neglected. This good correspondence, did not, however, long continue. The chevalier soon after named a Mr. Freebairn, to be by them consecrated a bishop, which gave so much offence, as to cause a schism in the college, which was not made up for many years after, and tended in a very material degree to embarrass his affairs in Scotland. Nothing, indeed, could be more deplorable, than the circumstances of the chevalier at this time, both at home and abroad. His court was composed of the most imbecile of his followers-men of no talents, without influence, and destitute of either honour or integrity. Marr, the most respectable, as well as the most influential of all his servants— from a long succession of misfortunes, on his own part, and from the impatience of those with whom he was associated, more weak than himself, and equally selfish-had fallen into discredit with him; in consequence of which, the whole body of his friends were divided into two factions, or parties-the one professing directly to follow his own directions, the other professing the same thing, but wishing him rather to follow the advice, and give up his affairs to the direction of his wife, and those who seemed to share more especially in her favour. To every considerate person, that aid from the continental governments, upon which he so much depended, was, in the meantime, becoming every day more difficult of attainment, the king of Spain, upon whom he had so long depended, having been under the necessity of subscribing the quadruple alliance, and dismissing cardinal Alberoni, from

his service, and even of banishing him out of the kingdom, the emperor of Germany, the regent of France, and the king of England, refusing to negotiate upon any other conditions.*

The king having recommended it to the commons, at the opening of a former session, to adopt proper measures for reducing the national debt, Sir John Blount, a cunning projector, brought forward the famous South Sea scheme, which, for the sake of personal advantage, was greedily grasped at by the members of administration, and, for a while, promised the most splendid results, but, in the issue, involved its projectors and supporters in disgrace, and almost all who had been connected with it in ruin. To repair these disasters, and support public credit under the shock they had produced, required all the attention of the government, and all the wisdom of parliament, without being troubled with the affairs of Scotland, which seem at this time to have had but few of their thoughts. Scotland, indeed, was still too poor to speculate in such a golden scheme as that of the South Sea, which appears to have been regarded by Scotishmen with astonishment rather than desire. "As for Britain," Lockhart remarks, writing to his friend Mr. James Murray, afterward created by the chevalier earl of Dunbar, at Rome, "'tis plain there must be some very extraordinary turn, for, as I take it, the constitution is wholly subverted, the whole power being now lodged in the hands of the South Sea company, which is now become masters of all the money, and have established such an interest, that king, lords, and commons, jointly, or separately, are mere names. Many, and those for the most part little scrub fellows, are said to have made vast estates, but for my part, I cannot see through it; 'tis like a meditation on eternity, that appears the more incomprehensible the more it is canvassed. One thing is plain, the company has no fund to pay at the rate of half a crown interest on the hundred pounds, as the stock is now sold at; nor is there, I believe, as much specie in Europe as what the stock is now screwed up to, so that how these new rich men will draw their effects, is more

The cardinal was an Italian, to which country he retired, and died at Placentia, in the year 1752.

than I can see through, unless, as it is talked, and too probable, an act pass next parliament, obliging the South Sea bills to pass as specie, and what confusion this in the event will occasion, is very obvious. So that I do conclude this stupendous structure will terminate in some very extraordinary event, which at present no man can foretell, only, in so far that it may come to have a quite contrary effect from what is designed by it."* It certainly did terminate very differently from what its advocates would have wished at least, though not, as Lockhart probably expected, any way favourably for the interests of James.

The General Assembly of the Scotish church was convened at Edinburgh, on the twelfth of May, 1720, John, earl of Rothes, being again commissioner, and the Rev. William Hamilton, moderator. "We have," says his majesty, in his letter to the assembly, "at this time under our consideration, some things which we hope will very much contribute to the preventing the growth of popery ;" and this intimation affected the assembly," with the deepest sense of gratitude," and made them evidently to hope for greater effects than had hitherto followed any of his majesty's gracious intentions this way, whether occult or expressed.+ Matters, however, of much greater importance than his majesty's secret purposes with regard to the growth of popery, which, in Scotland at least, has, from that day to this, been rather imaginary than real, occupied the attention of this Assembly. We have already seen professor Simpson dismissed from the bar of a former assembly, with a very moderate sentence, though convicted of very heterodox sentiments, and we have seen the presbytery of Auchterarder brought to make an apology, and submit to be admonished, for a very plain, though perhaps homely, exhibition of Scripture truth, and the same plan was now to be followed out upon a broader scale, and with more direct and decisive bearings. With all the forementioned strong indications of the spread of Neonomianism in the Scotish church, there were many of her ministers remarkable for enlarged and luminous views of gospel truth, and they were powerfully se• Lockhart Papers, vol. ii. p. 43.

+ Vide His Majesty's Letter to the Assembly, 1720, with the Assembly's Answer.