Bygone Scotland: Historical and SocialMaxwell, David
History
Bygone Scotland: Historical and Social
Maxwell, David
Scotland -- History
Under the Kings sanction, a General Assembly met in Glasgow, in November
1638. The royal commissioner protested against certain proceedings, and
he formally dissolved and retired from the Assembly: but under its
moderator it continued its sittings, condemning the king’s liturgy and
the imposition of an episcopacy. The reply of Charles was the pouring of
two armies into Scotland, one being under his own command. The
Covenanters, with whose cause Parliament had identified itself, were not
slack in taking up the challenge. They appointed General Leslie, a
veteran from the wars of Gustavus Adolphus, to the command of a hastily
raised army. He seized on all the fortified places; and he fortified
Leith, to defend Edinburgh from the king’s fleet. In view of these
warlike preparations, Charles temporized, and a vague kind of treaty was
negotiated. Another General Assembly met next year in Edinburgh; and
here the Royal Commissioner gave formal sanction to the decisions of the
Glasgow Assembly. This sanction was received with an outburst of
enthusiastic gratitude; and loyalty—never far from a Scotchman’s heart—
was again in the ascendant. But it was a delusion and a snare. The king
repudiated the concessions of his own commissioner, prorogued the
Parliament which met to sanction the proceedings of the assembly, and
prepared for a fresh invasion of Scotland. The Scots anticipated his
purpose by sending their army into England—where many were friendly to
their cause. There was a battle at Newburn, on the Tyne, in which the
royal troops were defeated. The Scots occupied Newcastle—and
negotiations were again opened for peace.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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