e it
a condition of his services, that he might understand from his majesty
that there was no intention of changing the established religion; for if
such was the object, he could not make any one step with him in that
matter. James received this declaration most kindly, assured him he had
no such intention, and that he would have a parliament, to which he,
Queensbury, should go as commissioner, and giving all possible assurances
in the matter of religion, get the revenue to be settled, and such other
laws to be passed as might be necessary for the public safety. With
these promises the duke was not only satisfied at the time, but declared,
at a subsequent period, that they had been made in so frank and hearty a
manner, as made him conclude that it was impossible the king should be
acting a part. And this nobleman was considered, and is handed down to
us by contemporary writers, as a man of a penetrating genius, nor has it
ever been the national character of the country to which he belonged to
be more liable to be imposed upon than the rest of mankind.

The Scottish parliament met on the 23rd of April, and was opened by the
commissioner, with the following letter from the king:--

"My Lords and Gentlemen,--The many experiences we have had of the
loyalty and exemplary forwardness of that our ancient kingdom, by
their representatives in parliament assembled, in the reign of our
deceased and most entirely beloved brother of ever blessed memory,
made us desirous to call you at this time, in the beginning of our
reign, to give you an opportunity, not only of showing your duty to us
in the same manner, but likewise of being exemplary to others in your
demonstrations of affection to our person and compliance with our
desires, as you have most eminently been in times past, to a degree
never to be forgotten by us, nor (we hope) to be contradicted by your
future practices. That which we are at this time to propose unto you
is what is as necessary for your safety as our service, and what has a
tendency more to secure your own privileges and properties than the
aggrandising our power and authority (though in it consists the
greatest security of your rights and interests, these never having
been in danger, except when the royal power was brought too low to
protect them), which now we are resolved to maintain, in its greatest
lustre, to the end we may be the more enabled to def