He pointed out
to her the probability of the Scottish Covenanters sending their army to
the aid of the parliament, and offered to prevent the danger by levying in
Scotland an army of ten thousand royalists. But he was opposed by his enemy
the marquess of Hamilton, who deprecated the arming of Scot against Scot,
and engaged on his own responsibility to preserve the peace between the
Scottish people and their sovereign. His advice, prevailed; the royalists
in Scotland were ordered to follow him as their leader; and, to keep him
true to the royal interest, the higher title of duke was conferred upon
him.[1]
If Hamilton was sincere, he had formed a false notion of his own
importance. The Scottish leaders, acting as if they were independent of the
sovereign, summoned a convention of estates. The estates met[a] in defiance
of the king's prohibition; but, to their surprise and mortification, no
commissioner had arrived from the English parliament. National jealousy,
the known intolerance of the Scottish kirk, the exorbitant
[Footnote 1: Clarendon, iv. 624. Guthrie, 127.]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1643. June 22.]
claims set up by the Scottish leaders in the late invasion, contributed to
deter many from accepting their new offers of assistance;[1] and more than
two months were suffered to elapse before the commissioners, Vane, Armyn,
Hatcher, and Darley, with Marshall, a Presbyterian, and Nye, an Independent
divine, were despatched[a] with full powers to Scotland.
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