gard to the old leaven of
Jacobinism, and put a limitation on the number of the armed men that were
to be allowed to rise in every place--a most ill-advised prudence, as was
made manifest by what happened among us, of which I will now rehearse the
particulars, and the part I had in it myself.

As soon as it was understood among the commonality that the French were
determined to subdue and make a conquest of Britain, as they had done of
all the rest of Europe, holding the noses of every continental king and
potentate to the grindstone, there was a prodigious stir and motion in
all the hearts and pulses of Scotland, and no where in a more vehement
degree than in Gudetown. But, for some reason or an other which I could
never dive into the bottom of, there was a slackness or backwardness on
the part of government in sending instructions to the magistrates to step
forward; in so much that the people grew terrified that they would be
conquered, without having even an opportunity to defend, as their fathers
did of old, the hallowed things of their native land; and, under the
sense of this alarm, they knotted themselves together, and actually drew
out proposals and resolutions of service of their own accord; by which
means they kept the power of choosing their officers in their own hands,
and so gave many of the big-wigs of the town a tacit intimation that they
were not likely to have the command.

While things were in this process, the government had come to its senses;
and some steps and measures were taken to organize volunteer corps
throughout the nation. Taking heart from them, other corps were proposed
on the part of the gentry, in which they were themselves to have the
command; and seeing that the numbers were to be limited, they had a wish
and interest to keep back the real volunteer offers, and to get their own
accepted in their stead. A suspicion of this sort getting vent, an
outcry of discontent thereat arose against them; and to the consternation
of the magistrates, the young lads, who had at the first come so briskly
forward, called a meeting of their body, and, requesting the magistrates
to be present, demanded to know what steps had been taken with their
offer of service; and, if transmitted to government, what answer had been
received.

This was a new era in public affairs; and no little amazement and anger
was expressed by some of the town-council, that any set of persons should
dare to question and interf