=51. William and Mary, 1689-1702. The Convention.=--When the _Convention_ met there was a large Whig majority. They passed a resolution that James by his misgovernment had forfeited the throne; they therefore deposed him, and offered the crown to _William_ and his wife _Mary_, the daughter of James, on the same terms as had been made in England. The _Convention_ then turned itself into a _Parliament_, which went on to the end of the reign. The members went in procession to the Cross of Edinburgh, where their vote was read. William and Mary were then proclaimed; and the ministers of parishes were ordered to pray publicly for the King and Queen, on pain of being turned out of their livings. To the _Claim of Right_, which was much the same as the English one, a special clause was added, declaring prelacy to be an intolerable burthen which had long been hateful to the people, and which ought to be swept away. Three _Commissioners_ were sent with the _Instrument of Government_ to London. _Argyle_ administered the coronation oath; but William, while taking it, declared that he would not become a persecutor in support of any sect. =52. The Rabbling.=--The fall of James was followed by the fall of the Episcopal Church, which had made itself hateful to the greater number of the people. They took the law into their own hands, and on _Christmas Day_, 1688, a general attack was made on the curates or parish priests in the _Western Lowlands_. About two hundred curates with their families were at once driven out of their houses with every sort of insult and abuse. William did not approve of these excesses, but he had no means of putting a stop to them, for there was no regiment north of the _Tweed_. He put forth a proclamation ordering all persons to lay down their arms, but it was little heeded. The rabbling and turning out went on much as before. If the bishops would have taken the oaths, William would most likely have protected them; but they remained true to their old master, and shared his fall. For a time all was disorder. In some parishes the curates went on ministering as heretofore, while in others the Presbyterian divines held services in tents, or illegally occupied the pulpits. It was not till June 1690 that the Presbyterian Church was re-established by law. Sixty of the ministers who had been turned out at the Restoration were still living, and to them was given authority to visit all the parishes, and to turn out all those curates whom they thought wanting in abilities, scandalous in morals, or unsound in faith. Those livings from which the curates had been rabbled and driven away were declared vacant. This way of dealing with the Church gave offence both to the Episcopalians and to the extreme Presbyterians, who did not approve of the interference of the King in Church matters. Both these parties continued to look on _William_ and _Mary_ as usurpers.