urt for the subversion of Presbytery. These
measures--'The Black Acts'--declared the supremacy of the King in all
matters--ecclesiastical and civil--and made all rejection of his
authority a treasonable act: they deprived the Church of the rights of
free assembly, free speech, and independent legislation; and they
empowered the bishops to reestablish their order in every part of the
kingdom. A clause was added requiring all ministers to sign an act of
submission to the bishops on penalty of losing their offices and their
livings.

On these Acts being proclaimed at the Cross of Edinburgh, the ministers
of the city--James Lawson, Walter Balcanquhal, and Robert Pont--appeared
and made protest against them, when Arran was so incensed by their
conduct that he at once ordered their arrest, and swore he would make
Lawson's head 'leap from its halse though it was as big as a haystack.'
More than they were in jeopardy of their lives; every man in the country
who had been a pronounced friend of liberty had cause to fear. Lawson,
Balcanquhal, and Pont fled, with many others. A warrant had been
procured by Archbishop Adamson for the apprehension of James Melville,
when he made his escape by open boat to Berwick.

The course of events showed that the ministers had reason for their
flight. Some of the most zealous of those left in the country were
thrown into prison for refusing to conform to the Acts, or for
remembering their banished brethren in public prayer. One minister was
tried and sentenced to death on a charge that a letter from one of these
brethren had been found in possession of his wife; and though the
sentence was not executed, the scaffold was put up, and kept up for some
time, before his prison window. Nor were the ministers the only
sufferers. Glasgow University, which Melville's teaching and influence
had leavened with the principles of liberty, was made to feel the heavy
hand of the Government: its professors were imprisoned, its rector was
banished, and its gates were closed.

Popular indignation began to break forth in many quarters. In St.
Andrews the students went in a body to the Archbishop's palace and
warned him that he was courting the fate of Hamilton and Beaton; while
visiting Edinburgh, Adamson had to be protected by the police;
Montgomery was mobbed at Ayr; and wherever the bishops appeared there
were hostile demonstrations on the part of the people.

The Court, however, defied public opinion, and w