X. 1690. BOOK from the success of a great example, the perils of a conspiracy have become familiar to their minds. Before the new government has 'acquired stability and strength, they imagine that the old may be restored with the same facility, and by the same means, with which it was subverted. In these circumstances it is not surprising that the restless Montgomery was the first to conspire against the revolution which he had contributed to produce. Ferguson's motives were probably those of a secret republican, who had acquired an habitual delight in plots, and was actuated rather by an aversion to monarchy than by an attachment to James. The earl of Annandale and lord Ross, who had also promoted the revolution, were persuaded by Montgomery that the honours and preferment from which they were excluded by the ingratitude of William, might be obtained by returning to the allegiance due to their lawful king. Their connexions with his partizans in England are imperfectly known; but their plots, as far as they have been discovered, were visionary and absurd. Montgomery, a violent fanatic, proposed to establish presbytery, by persuading the parliament to declare for James; and for that purpose projected a coalition between the Jacobites and the presbyterians; in order to disband the army by the refusal of supplies, and by resolving the parlia ment again into a convention, to restore their ancient government and king. A correspondence X. 1690. was opened with James; and concessions which BOOK cost him nothing, were easily obtained. He agreed to a general indemnity and settlement of the presbytery in its most rigid form; appointed Annandale commissioner to the present parliament, created Ross and Montgomery earls, and the latter secretary of state for Scotland 19. tion with bites, Such fantastic plots might embarrass, but could and coalinever overturn a government; and the Jacobites easily discerned that to recall the late king, in a parliamentary manner, and without arms, was a measure too extravagant to succeed. But if William were once constrained, by the refusal of supplies, to disband the army, and to dissolve the parliament in consequence of its extravagant demands, they considered justly that the kingdom might be easily recovered by an insurrection of 1 the highlanders, aided by a timely descent from Ireland". Their whole party were invited and urged to return to their seats, and the disgraceful scene that succeeded, when the parliament was resumed, marks how forcibly the influence of faction may control the moral, and religious principles of the human mind. The oaths to govern. ment merely professed, as in England, to be faithful, and to bear true allegiance to William and Mary, without an acknowledgment of their lawful 19 Balcarras. Annandale's Confession in Dalrymple's Memoirs, iii. 54. 20 Balcarras, 85. BOOK title or right to the crown. To relieve the scruples. X. 1690. dissolved, of the conscientious, a distinction between a king de facto and a king de jure was thus humanely introduced; but there were few Jacobites who hesitated, by the grossest equivocation, to accept the oaths to the government which they meant to overturn, and to swear allegiance to William, whom they had conspired to dethrone. Their designs were carefully concealed from the presbyte rians", whom Montgomery persuaded that nothing more was intended than to strengthen their interest in parliament against Melville and Stair. But the most violent measures were proposed to render the presbyterians irreconcileable to William, from an assurance that he would never yield to their exorbitant demands. As the duke of Hamilton, whose son was deeply engaged in the plot, had been found untractable, lord Melville was appointed commissioner to the parliament, which at first assumed a lowering and 21 Balcarras, 85. Balcarras affirms, that among the presbyterians the plot was confined expressly to Annandale, Ross, Montgomery, and Ogilvie, afterwards lord Seafield. Some historians have imagined, and James himself believed, that Argyle and other presbyterian lords were privy to the plot. Macpherson's Orig. Pap. i. 234. 399. Argyle was also suspected, by William. Dalrymple, iii. 212. But he was active during the plot in securing Strahan, a messenger from James, and like the other presbyterians, he engaged only in the opposition, and was probably ignorant of the plot itself. Hist. Revolu tion, 212. 1690. discontented aspect. Alarmed at the return and BOOK coalition of the disaffected members with the presbyterians, he solicited additional powers; and in one article ventured to exceed his instructions. When the act of supremacy was repealed, the presbyterians began to confide in his sincerity, and to distrust the intercourse of their leaders with the Jacobites, whom they deserted daily in almost every vote. The few Jacobites who refused the oaths had disappointed their party of a majority in parliament. On the return of a messenger from James, they discovered that all honours and emoluments under the future government were engrossed by their associates, whose wild and fantastics plots they therefore abandoned in disgust. Nothing had been procured for Arran but an indemnity to his father: no forces had been solicited from Ireland to suppress their enemies if the parliament were dissolved; and at that critical conjuncture, the seasonable defeat of the highlanders extinguished any rational hopes of success. the arrival of Buchan with officers and supplies from Ireland, they had resumed their arms; but they were surprised on descending into Strathmore, and dispersed by Livingston; and the present Fort William was built by Mackay, to restrain their incursions 23. On When deserted by both parties, the three ori 22 Annandale's Confession; Dalrymple, iii. 57. 23 Balcarras, 89. 93. X. 1690. and dis closed to government. BOOK ginal conspirators, conscious and mutually suspi cious of perfidy, hastened to anticipate each other by the earliest discoveries of their own plots. Lord Ross gave the first intimation to the From queen. a latent principle of honour, he refused to become an evidence against his associates, and was committed to the tower. Montgomery, when informed of his departure for court, disclosed the whole correspondence to Melville. Unwilling or unable to name his confederates in England, he despaired of a full pardon; and after some years spent in constant plots, he expired in exile of vexation and grief. Ferguson, an experienced plotter, was too wary to be convicted, even when betrayed by Annandale, whom he had secreted in London; but Nevile Pain, who had been employed as an agent from England, endured the question twice with a constancy disgraceful to Annandale the informer; and from the public indignation which it excited, he was the last man who suffered the torture in Scotland. But the humanity of William was desirous rather to prevent than to punish their designs; and there are few examples in history of a plot so extensive, detected and suppressed without a single execution 24. Redress of As the hopes of the conspirators were placed on grievances. the refusal of every popular demand, the redress of grievances became the more neccssary to dissi 24 Balcarras, 89. 93. Burnet, iv. 91. Annandale's Confession; Dalrymple. |