Presbyterians of England as by the
Presbyterians of Scotland.

The first act of the Estates was to proclaim the Prince of Wales king of
Great Britain, their next to send a deputation to Holland to invite him
to take possession of his kingdom. It had been better both for Charles
and for Scotland that the invitation had never been accepted. The terms
on which alone the Scots would see the son of Charles Stuart back among
them as crowned king were such as only the direst necessity could have
induced him to accept: they were such as it seems now amazing that even
the most bigoted and inexperienced could really have believed that the
son of his father, or, indeed, any man in his position, would keep one
moment longer than circumstances compelled him. But his advisers, led on
by Wilmot and Buckingham, bid him sign--sign everything, or all would be
lost. He signed everything. First he put his hand to the Solemn League
and Covenant: then to a second declaration promising to do his utmost to
extirpate both Popery and Prelacy from all parts of his kingdom:
finally, he consented to figure as the hero of a day of public fasting
and humiliation for the tyranny of his father and the idolatry of his
mother. And while he was acquiescing to each fresh demand with a shrug
of his shoulders and a whispered jest to Buckingham, and in his heart as
much hatred for his humiliators as he was capable of feeling for
anybody, he was all the while urging on Montrose to strike that wild
blow for his crown which was to lead the brave marquis to the scaffold.
The deaths of Hamilton and Huntly had preceded the death of Montrose by
a few weeks: a few more weeks and Charles was in Scotland, a crowned
king in name, virtually a prisoner. Within little more than a year the
fight at Dunbar, and the "crowning mercy" of Worcester, had bitterly
taught him how futile was all the humiliation he had undergone.

It will be enough to briefly recall the main incidents of the years
which intervened between the battle of Worcester and the Restoration.
After the establishment of the Protectorate an Act of Indemnity was
passed for the Scottish people. From this certain classes were excepted.
All of the House of Hamilton, for instance, and some other persons of
note, including Lauderdale: all who had joined the Engagement, or who
had not joined in the protestation against it: all who had sat in
Parliament or on the Committee of Estates after the coronation of
Charles at