Anabaptists themselves learned to believe that
the ambition of a private individual could not defeat the designs of the
Lord, and that it was better for men to retain their situations under the
protector, than, by abandoning them, to deprive themselves of the means of
promoting the service of God, and of hastening the reign of Christ upon
earth.[1]

In Scotland the spirit of disaffection equally prevailed among the superior
officers; but their attention was averted from political feuds by military
operations. In the preceding years, under the appearance of general
tranquillity, the embers of war had continued to smoulder in the Highlands:
they burst into a flame on the departure of Monk to take the command of the

[Footnote 1: Thurloe, ii. 149, 150, 162, 214.]

English fleet. To Charles in France, and his partisans in Scotland, it
seemed a favourable moment; the earls of Glencairn and Balcarras, were
successively joined by Angus, Montrose, Athol, Seaforth, Kenmure, and
Lorne, the son of Argyle; and Wogan, an enterprising officer, landing at
Dover,[a] raised a troop of royalists in London, and traversing England
under the colours of the commonwealth, reached in safety the quarters
of his Scottish friends. The number of the royalists amounted to some
thousands: the nature of the country and the affections of the natives were
in their favour; and their spirits were supported by the repeated, but
fallacious, intelligence of the speedy arrival of Charles himself at the
head of a considerable force. A petty, but most destructive, warfare
ensued. Robert Lilburne, the English commander, ravaged the lands of all
who favoured the royalists; the royalists, those of all who remained
neuter, or aided their enemies. But in a short time, personal feuds
distracted the councils of the insurgents; and, as the right of Glencairn
to the chief command was disputed, Middleton arrived[b] with a royal
commission, which all were required to obey. To Middleton the protector
opposed Monk.[c] It was the policy of the former to avoid a battle, and
exhaust the strength of his adversary by marches and counter-marches in a
mountainous country, without the convenience of roads or quarters; but in
an attempt to elude his pursuer, Middleton was surprised[d] at Loch Garry
by the force under Morgan; his men, embarrassed in the defile, were slain
or made prisoners; and his loss taught the royalist leaders to deserve
mercy by the promptitude of their submis