272

HISTORY OF ENGLAND.

cnAp. and imprisonment, the sheers and the branding iron, the hoot,"Teas thumbscrew, and the, gallows could not extort from thestubborn Covenanter one evasive word on which it was possibleto put a sense inconsistent with his theological system. Evenin things indifferent he would hear of no compromise; and hewas but too ready to consider all who recommended prudenceand charity as traitors to the cause of truth. On the other hand,the Scotchmen of that generation who made a figure in the Par-liament House and in the Council Chamber were the mostdishonest and unblushing timeservers that the world has everseen. The English marvelled alike at both classes. There wereindeed many stouthearted nonconformists in the South; butscarcely any who in obstinacy, pugnacity, and hardihood couldhear a comparison with the men of the school of Cameron. Therewere many knavish politicians in the South; hut few so utterlydestitute of morality, and still fewer so utterly destitute ofshame, as the men of the school of Lauderdale. Perhaps it isnatural that the most callous and impudent vice should be foundin the near neighbourhood of unreasonable and impracticablevirtue. Where enthusiasts areready to destroy or to he destroyedfor trifles magnified into importance by a squeamish conscience,it is not strange that the very name of conscience should becomea byword of contempt to cool and shrewd men of business,commit- The majority, reinforced by the crowd of deserters from theElections, minority, proceeded to name a Committee of Elections. Fifteenpersons were chosen, and it soon appeared that twelve of thesewere not disposed to examine severely into the regularity of anyproceeding of which the result had been to send up a Whig tothe Parliament House. The Duke of Hamilton is said to havebeen disgusted by the gross partiality of his own followers, andto have exerted himself, with but little success, to restrain theirviolence.*

* Balcarras’s Memoirs; History of the late Revolution in Scotland, 1690.