by Rev. Aeneas McDonnell Dawson

QUEEN ELIZABETH SEEKS THE AID OF THE CATHOLICS OF SCOTLAND—KING JAMES FAVOURS THE CATHOLICS—EARL HUNTLY, A CATHOLIC, MASTER IN ARGYLES COUNTRY—THE KING PUNISHES THE KIRK AND EARL BOTHWELL— THE CATHOLIC EARLS BOLDER THAN EVER—THEIR AGENT, KERR, AVENGED— POPULARITY OF THE CATHOLIC EARLS—SAVED BY THE KING FROM THE INJUSTICE OF THE KIRK—THE KING SUSPECTED BY THE MINISTERS OF BECOMING A CATHOLIC—HIS ZEAL FOR THE “TRUE RELIGION”—HIS EXTRAORDINARY MODE OF PACIFICATION OFFENDS BOTH PARTIES—SCOLDED BY QUEEN ELIZABETH— HE WOULD NOT BE DICTATED TO BY A PRINCESS WHO SO VIOLENTLY PERSECUTED HER CATHOLIC SUBJECTS—THE CATHOLIC EARLS DRIVEN INTO REBELLION—THE BIRTH OF AN HEIR—FANTASTIC CELEBRATION—THE KING LEADS AN ARMY AGAINST THE REBELS, WHOM LORD BOTHWELL PROPOSES TO AID.

At this time (1593) the Catholic Party in Scotland was so powerful and important that the arch-enemy of Catholics, Queen Elizabeth, was glad to seek their favour. This powerful Queen, together with her ministers, Burghley and Sir Robert Cecil entered into a secret communication with the Earl of Huntly and the Catholic Party with a view to keep up her faction in Scotland, which she had always so much at heart. Notwithstanding her protestations that she was guided solely by zeal for the glory of God and the interests of the “true Religion,” Mr. Bowes, her ambassador in Scotland, declared that a coalition between the Catholics and her protege, Earl Bothwell, would highly offend the ministers of the Kirk who would “greatly start and wonder hereat.” Besides, how could he reconcile such a measure with his instructions to prosecute the “Papistical” rebels? How could he allow Huntly’s uncle, a priest and a Jesuit, to steal quietly out of Scotland, and nevertheless, satisfy the Kirk and the Protestant leaders that he (Bowes) was an enemy of the idolators. It need hardly be said the proposed coalition never took place. Meanwhile, King James, having overcome his great enemy, Earl Bothwell, who had so often plotted and intrigued against him, and having dealt leniently with him, allowing him to enjoy his revenues provided he absented himself from the kingdom, and pardoning the accomplices of his late treasons, was now more powerful than ever. He could now afford to show some favour to the Catholic leaders. He invited the Countess of Huntly to his court, permitted the Catholic Earls, Angus and Erroll, to visit their friends without molestation, and, as was strongly asserted at the time, consented to hold a secret interview with Huntly at his palace at Falkland. Huntly had become an experienced warrior, and for several months had kept the whole of Argyle’s country in terror and subjection. He had also had great promises of support from Spain which did not hinder King James from believing, that, with so powerful a chief and Hume on his side, he need not fear the Earls Bothwell and Athole, or their allies. Measures now followed, in quick succession, that were well calculated to shew that the King was both able and determined to punish the insults which had been heaped upon him by the faction of the Kirk and Earl Bothwell. Hume, a Catholic, was appointed Captain of the King’s body guard. The ministers were preparing a process of excommunication against this powerful Baron. The King required that they should abandon it. The three Catholic Earls, Huntly, Angus and Erroll, although not yet admitted at Court, appeared in public openly and with full confidence. Angus visited Morton in Fifeshire and advised him to join his party, as it was now so strong that it would soon be able to force a union. Even George Kerr, who had suffered so much in connection with the “Spanish blanks,” came on the scene, appearing near Dalkeith, with a troop of eighty horse. He warned Lord Ross’ tenants to abstain from their labours in order to save their houses from being burned. Ross’ men had assisted in the capture of Kerr and he himself was rewarded with a grant of land called Melville, and other lands around Newbottle which belonged to the Kerrs. These events were not altogether unimportant. The ministers noticed them in the pulpit; for these watchmen of the Kirk had a keen eye for detecting the current of court favour that was now setting in towards “Popery.” So much so was this the case, that the ministers strongly asseverated, but without grounds, that the King had serious intentions of becoming a convert to the Catholic faith. It was not even in his mind to permit the public exercise of this religion to any of his subjects. His great object was to counteract the unprincipled policy of Queen Elizabeth, who constantly aimed at weakening Scotland by causing discord and divisions among the nobility. Now that James was once more free and a powerful monarch, he resolved to reconcile all the feuds of the Barons and unite the parties that had been hitherto so strongly opposed to one another. How violently adverse to this wise policy the supporters of the English Queen were, we learn from a letter of Mr. Carey, Governor of Berwick and a son of Lord Hunsdon, a near relative of the Queen. He expressed the fervent hope that the day might never arrive which shall see the Scottish nobles. “linked together in peace.” The letter referred to is as follows:— I know not well what to say; but, this I am sure, the King doth too much appose, lean on, or rely, (apponere) himself to the Papist faction for our good, I fear. Yet here (in the border districts) is nothing but peace and seeking to link all the nobility together, which, I hope, will never be. The Papists do only bear sway; and the King hath none to put in trust with his own body but them. What will come of this your Lordship’s wisdom can best discern; and thus much I know certain, that it were good your Lordship looked well whom you trust; for the King and the nobility of Scotland have too good intelligence out of the Court of England.” (Letter of Mr. J. Carey to Lord Burghly, State Paper Office.)

King James now entertained the hope that he might behold his divided nobility united together and affording powerful support to his government. In order to forward this favourite object, he opposed the violent and persecuting measures of the Kirk. Bothwell had lately stated to Queen Elizabeth that the Scottish Catholics were so strong, that, in the event of being united with the Protestants, “they would soon rule all.” Huntly and his friends had gained complete pre-eminence in the North. To assail them with processes of treason and proscription would only have tended to increase their hostility and render them desperate; and, to fulminate against them, if they would not renounce their religion and sign the Presbyterian Confession of Faith, the assumed thunders of ecclesiastical vengeance would have been highly impolitic as well as intolerant. Such matters the Kirk ardently desired. The King vigorously opposed them. The ministers stormed in their pulpits and convened an assembly at St. Andrews, in order to consult on the imminent dangers which threatened the Kirk. In this assembly the ministers acknowledged the backslidings of their class. They had forgotten their flocks; they were idle and profane; it was even declared that “a great part of the pastors were the gayest and the most careless men in Scotland.” They resolved to excommunicate the Catholic Barons; and they,—a mere local convention—took it upon themselves to issue a sentence delivering their enemies to Satan for the destruction of their flesh. This unhallowed clique presumed also to command that their sentence should be intimated in every Kirk in the kingdom, and that all persons, of whatever rank, should be interdicted from concealing or holding communication with the delinquents whom it had pleased them to deliver to the devil, under pain of being subjected to a like anathema.

Meanwhile, Earl Bothwell, showing himself unworthy of the pardon offered by the King, undertook new intrigues with the ever-willing court of Queen Elizabeth. His schemes and combinations with some of the Scottish Barons were speedily detected by the King, who, assembling a strong force, marched in person, without delay, against the Lords Athole, Gowrie and Montrose, who had got together some five hundred horse, attacked them, made Gowrie and Montrose prisoners, whilst Athole narrowly escaped being taken or slain, and fled with all speed to his own estate in the North.

The Catholic Earls, Huntly, Erroll and Angus, protesting their innocence as regarded the “Spanish blanks,” demanded a trial, and even proposed to satisfy the Kirk as to religion. King James, distrusting their sincerity, resisted their importunity. If they had been sincere it would have been highly unjust to reject their request. But it had become well known that they had secretly summoned their friends and retainers to assemble in arms on “the day of law.” In the event of such armed assembling the Kirk also resolved to make a military demonstration; and, thus guarded, “accuse their enemies to the uttermost.” They added the bitter declaration that they “were certainly determined that the country shall not bruik (brook) us and them baith (both), so long as they are God’s professed enemies.” The ministers, accordingly, sent warnings all over the country, to noblemen, barons, gentlemen and Burgesses to muster in warlike arms and array at Perth on the 24th of the month, the day on which it was expected the trial would take place. Commissioners had been appointed to petition the King to “delay the trial till the professors of the gospel should be ripely advised what was meetest for them to do since they had resolved to be the principal accusers of those noblemen in their foul treasons.” This petition was presented to James at Jedburgh. He refused to acknowledge any convention that had been called without his order, held some angry conversation with the commissioners and peremptorily declined giving any written reply to the assembly. There was alarm at the Court of Elizabeth; Bowes, her ambassador, wrote to Burghley “the convocation and access of people to that place, (the place of trial) is looked upon to be so great, that thereon bloody troubles shall arise.” Indeed, a collision was inevitable, and it would have been the beginning of a bloody civil war. The dreaded calamity was averted by the wise policy of King James. He forbade the trial to be held at Perth, and decreed that a solemn inquiry into the conduct of Huntly, Angus and Erroll should take place before commissioners to be selected from the nobility, the Burghs and the Kirk. He also appointed that the three Earls should dismiss their forces and await the King’s determination at Perth, and that none should be allowed to molest them during the trial when it took place. The Kirk was horror-struck. They had urged the imprisonment of the three Earls and declared that they could not be recognized or allowed to stand their trial, until they signed the Confession of Faith and were reconciled to the Kirk. They insisted, moreover, that the Earls should have no counsel to defend them, and that their accuser, the Kirk, should nominate the jury. These complaints, remonstrances and menaces were all in vain. The King remained firm. He could not consent to the monstrous injustice that was proposed, and to crown the discomfiture of the ministers he was so powerfully supported by the nobility that it would be useless to attempt resistance. The trial was postponed. It was believed that no jury could be found, so “void of favour and partiality” as to condemn the accused. This was no slight admission of the popularity of the Catholic Earls. If acquitted, it was said, no terms or conditions could be imposed upon them which their power would not enable them to set aside. The Earls asserted their innocence as to “the Spanish blanks” and of conspiracy to bring foreign troops into the realm. They admitted, however, that they had received Jesuits, heard Mass, revolted from the Presbyterian faith, refused to obey their summons for treason, and committed other acts against the laws. In regard to all these matters, they were willing to put themselves in the King’s mercy. The King, with the aid of a committee, came to the conclusion that the wisest thing he could do was to adopt a middle course, something between the extremity of persecution which the Kirk desired, and toleration, which was all the Catholics could hope for at the time. This sentence was, that he was firmly resolved that “God’s true religion” (pretty well for an Episcopalian) publicly preached and by law established during the first year of his reign, should alone be professed by the whole body of his subjects; and that all who had not embraced it, should, before the first of February next, obey the laws by professing it, and thus satisfy the Kirk, or, if they found this to be against their conscience, they should depart the realm to such parts beyond seas as he should direct, there to remain until they embraced “the true religion” and were reconciled to the Kirk; but, he added, that during this banishment they should enjoy their lands and living. The parties accused of conspiring with Spain for the overthrow of this same “true religion,” the Earls of Angus, Huntly and Erroll, together with Sir Patrick Gordon of Auchendown, and Sir James Chisholm of Cornileys, he pronounced “free and unaccusable in all time coming of any such crimes,” and annulled all legal proceedings that had been instituted against them. This, favour, however, was extended to the offending Lords on condition only that they should not renew their intrigues or threaten, by word or deed. a repetition of their treason. It was, at the same time, intimated to them and to all other Catholics that if they chose to renounce their “idolatry,” to embrace the Presbyterian opinions, satisfy the Kirk and remain to enjoy their estates and honours in their own land, all this must be done before the first day of February next. If they preferred to retain their Faith and go into exile, they were required to abstain from all practices with Jesuits or Seminary Priests against their native country.

By this extraordinary sentence, King James hoped to pacify the country. It only had the effect of making confusion more confounded. It caused wrath and lamentation in the Kirk. The Catholics were too powerful to submit, They were in no humour to abandon their religion or retain it at the expense of perpetual exile. They commanded almost the whole of the North of Scotland, and continued strengthening themselves, both at home and through their foreign allies, for a new struggle. The feeling of the leading ministers is well described by the English Ambassador, Bowes, in a letter to Lord Burghley, “The King’s edict is thought to be very injurious to the Church, and far against the laws of this realm. The ministers have not only openly protested to the King and Convention that they will not agree to the same, but also in their sermons inveigh greatly against it, etc.”

Queen Elizabeth was no less offended than the Kirk. Her mind was agitated by the reported proceedings of Jesuits in Scotland, and in consequence of the harsh treatment of Ireland by her government, that country was in perpetual commotion. She could not send her myrmidons to butcher the supporters of the Catholic religion in Scotland, as it was her barbarous policy to do in England. She could, however, scold her good brother, the Scottish King. This she did in good style in a letter which has been preserved, as well as through an ambassador-extraordinary whom, in her excitement, she despatched to the Court of King James. The Queen’s bitter and sarcastic letter could not, of course, be acceptable to James. He was greatly vexed by it; but, with his wonted policy, dissembled his wrath and received the ambassador with apparent courtesy. He assured Lord Touch that he was anxious to live on terms of amity with his good sister, and that she need have no anxiety as to the abolition in favour of the Catholic Lords, for, it was now abolished by their not accepting it. His councillors were complained of. He must confide in his council as the Queen did in her’s; he was the last who would suffer any ill-affected persons to insinuate themselves among his ministers. This did not satisfy the ambassador. He insisted on something more practical. He would have deeds, not words. But it does not appear that he was able to divert the King from his purposes. He claimed to be as well skilled in statecraft as Elizabeth, and he would not be dictated to by a Princess who carried on a violent persecution of her Catholic subjects. The Queen favoured a new attack on her good brother by the inveterate rebel, Earl Bothwell. It only caused some annoyance; and this over, King James took his revenge on Elizabeth by addressing to her a letter quite as pithy and sarcastic as the scolding epistle she had sent to him by Lord Touch, The King’s letter had the desired effect. Elizabeth was mollified and had no scruple in discarding her protege, Bothwell. When the ambassadors, bearers of the letter, invited her, in their master’s name, to stand God-mother at the approaching baptism of the infant heir to the Scottish throne, she was all smiles, to them, and was even more placable on the subject of money, but, on the condition that the King should lose no time in setting out on his proposed expedition against the Catholic Earls, and thus shewed that he was in earnest.

The King now resolved to concentrate his whole strength against the Catholic leaders. As he thus conciliated the Kirk and the English faction, every thing proceeded amicably and firmly. Huntly, Angus and Erroll, the three mighty chiefs, were now in open rebellion; and they were forfeited, stript of their estates and declared traitors, while the young Earl of Argyle, their declared enemy, received commission to assemble the forces of the North and pursue them with fire and sword. Meanwhile, all persons detected in saying Mass were ordered to be punished capitally and their goods confiscated. In order to preserve the “religion,” and to confirm the friendship between the two nations, it was undertaken to, thoroughly reform the King’s Council, following Elizabeth’s advice in such matters. The Catholic Countess of Huntley, whose intercourse with the King and Queen had been a sore point with the Kirk, was banished from the Court; Lord Hume recanted and signed the Confession of Faith; but, whether convinced in conscience, or terrified by the approaching cruelties, will never be known. The King, immediately after the baptism of the heir apparent, would march in person, at the head of all the powers of his kingdom, against the insurgents. There was now an endless variety of festivities on occasion of the Royal baptism; chariots, mimic ships, Christian knights, rural deities, Moors, windmills, and amazons contributed to make up the pageants, one of which of “deep moral meaning,” was the fruitful product of His Majesty’s own brain. It must have been a rare treat to see the hypocrite monarch playing the role of a moralist, and, although professing complete devotion to the Kirk, commissioning the Bishop of St. Andrews to baptise his son and heir. In the midst of all the revelry the expedition to the North was not forgot. James could never forget the refusal of the Catholic Barons to accept his absurd conditions of pacification; and the Kirk considered that he was engaging in a holy war, that is, a war of religious persecution or more truly of extermination. Many other feelings, passions and motives of baser alloy, if baser could be, were at work, and dark inveterate hatred arising from private war and family feuds. There was the greatest exacerbation on. both sides. Huntly, Angus, Erroll and Auchendown, ever since they rejected the act of abolition, had been making vigorous preparations; and Bothwell, the King’s hated enemy, now cast off by Elizabeth, joined their party and engaged to make a diversion in the South, dividing and distracting the King’s forces. He even proposed by a sudden coup de main, to attack the Court, imprison the King, and seize the infant Prince. The plot was rendered abortive by the seizure of certain agents connected with it.

    
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