Lays of the Scottish Cavaliers and Other PoemsAytoun, William Edmondstoune
History
Lays of the Scottish Cavaliers and Other Poems
Aytoun, William Edmondstoune
Scotland -- History -- Poetry
"I, with my own money, hired a small vessel. Ill-supplied with money,
arms, or friends, I arrived in Scotland, attended by seven persons. I
publish the King my father's declaration, and proclaim his title, with
pardon in one hand, and in the other liberty of conscience, and the most
solemn promises to grant whatever a free Parliament shall propose for
the happiness of a people. I have, I confess, the greatest reason to
adore the goodness of Almighty God, who has in so remarkable a manner
protected me and my small army through the many dangers to which we were
at first exposed, and who has led me in the way to victory, and to the
capital of this ancient kingdom, amidst the acclamations of the King my
father's subjects. Why, then, is so much pains taken to spirit up the
minds of the people against this my undertaking?
"The reason is obvious; it is, lest the real sense of the nation's
present sufferings should blot out the remembrance of past misfortunes,
and of the outcries formerly raised against the royal family. Whatever
miscarriages might have given occasion to them, they have been more than
atoned for since; and the nation has now an opportunity of being secured
against the like in future.
"That our family has suffered exile during these fifty-seven years
everybody knows. Has the nation, during that period of time, been the
more happy and flourishing for it? Have you found reason to love and
cherish your governors as the fathers of the people of Great Britain and
Ireland? Has a family, upon whom a faction unlawfully bestowed the
diadem of a rightful prince, retained a due sense of so great a trust
and favour? Have you found more humanity and condescension in those who
were not born to a crown, than in my royal forefathers? Have their ears
been open to the cries of the people? Have they, or do they consider
only the interests of these nations? Have you reaped any other benefit
from them than an immense load of debt? If I am answered in the
affirmative, why has their government been so often railed at in all
your public assemblies? Why has the nation been so long crying out in
vain for redress against the abuse of Parliaments, upon account of their
long duration, the multitude of placemen, which occasions their
venality, the introduction of penal laws, and, in general, against the
miserable situation of the kingdom at home and abroad? All these, and
many more inconveniences, must now be removed, unless the people of
Great Britain be already so far corrupted that they will not accept of
freedom when offered to them, seeing the King, on his restoration, will
refuse nothing that a free Parliament can ask for the security of the
religion, laws, and liberty of his people.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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