All authority
derived from any other source than the parliament of England was
abolished[a] by proclamation; the different sheriffs, and civil officers of
doubtful fidelity, were removed for others attached to the commonwealth; a
yearly tax of one hundred and thirty thousand pounds was imposed in lieu of
free quarters for the support of the army; and English judges, assisted by
three or four natives, were appointed to go the circuits, and to supersede
the courts of session.[3] It was with grief
[Footnote 1: Balfour, iv. 315. Heath, 304, 308, 310, 313. Whitelock, 514,
534, 543.]
[Footnote 2: Journals, Dec. 2, 1652.]
[Footnote 3: Ludlow, 345. Heath, 313, 326. Whitelock, 528, 542. Journals,
Nov. 19. Leicester's Journal, 129. The English judges were astonished at
the spirit of litigation and revenge which the Scots displayed during the
circuit. More than one thousand individuals were accused before them of
adultery, incest, and other offences, which they had been obliged to
confess in the kirk during the last twenty or thirty years. When no other
proof was brought, the charge was dismissed. In like manner sixty persons
were charged with witchcraft. These were also acquitted; for, though they
had confessed the offence, the confession had been drawn from them by
torture.
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