The author of one of these pamphlets, the Rev. John Sage, wrote also an elaborate treatise on the history and nature of Presbytery, in which he maintained that the article in the Claim of Rights which declared that Prelacy was a grievance, and contrary to the inclinations of the Scottish people, was utterly without foundation.[113] The Presbyterians, he asserted, had, in pursuance of a carefully-arranged plan, encouraged the rabble to eject the Episcopal ministers, and had managed, during the confusion of the times, to secure a majority in the Estates, which did not represent the wishes of the country. It was obvious that if this could be proved to the satisfaction of the Whigs of England, they would, in any treaty of Union, consider seriously whether the religious Establishment of Scotland should not be brought into conformity with that of England. If a majority of the people desired Presbytery, the Whigs, on principle, were bound to support Presbytery. But if neither the mob nor the Parliament represented the wishes of the people; if the real desire of the nation could only be discovered by private consultations with the Tory and Jacobite laity, or gathered from the writings of the Episcopal clergy; if the majority of the Parliament represented the minority of the nation, then it was the duty of the Whigs to support Episcopacy. But the pamphlets which were most widely read in England were those which held up the Presbyterians to execration as persecutors, and to ridicule as fanatics. Monro and his friends took great pains to collect accounts of the hardships which the Episcopal clergy had suffered at the hands of the mob, and published them for the purpose of influencing public opinion in England.[114] The clergy were described as “a company of resolute Christians that dare lay down their lives for the truth of those doctrines which they have formerly taught.” In point of fact, none of them were called upon to lay down their lives. One of the worst cases of “rabbling,” which the Episcopalians described as a “tragedy,” took place at Kirkpatrick in Annandale. On Easter day a party of men and women went to the clergyman’s house in the morning, knocked him down, and then threw him into “a nasty puddle.” His wife, who ran out of the house, was also thrown down. “Then their noble Captain at this honourable expedition gave the word of command to his female janizaries, which was _Strip the Curate_ (for they think this a most disgraceful appellation, and therefore they apply it to all Episcopal ministers). The order was no sooner given, than these Amazons prepared to put it in execution, for throwing away their plaids (_i.e._ loose upper garments) each of them drew from her girdle a great sharp-pointed dagger, prepared, it seems, for a thorough reformation. The good minister lying panting and prostrate on the ground, had first his night-gown torn and cut off him, his close coat, waistcoat, and britches ript open with