these enactments considered at the time as fatal
to the interests of Presbytery in Scotland, have, upon experience,
proved her best security.

"Upon the one hand, the Act of Toleration, by taking the weapon of
offence out of the hands of the Presbyterians, removed the chief grounds
of those resentments which the friends of prelacy entertained against
them, and in a few years almost annihilated Episcopacy in Scotland Upon
the other hand, the Act restoring Patronages, by restoring the nobility
and gentlemen of property to then wonted influence in the settlement of
the clergy, reconciled numbers of them to the established church, who
had conceived the most violent prejudices against that mode of election,
and against the Presbyterian clergy, who were settled upon it. It is
likewise an incontestable fact, that, from the date of these two Acts,
the Church of Scotland has enjoyed a state of tranquillity to which she
was an utter stranger before." (Life of Carstares, prefixed to
Carstares's "State Papers," 1774, p 85) [S]]

[Footnote 30: This message was reported to the House of Commons June
19th, 1712. [W.S.J]]

Nothing could more amply justify the proceedings of the Queen and her
ministers, for two years past, than that famous Representation above at
large recited, the unbiassed wisdom of the nation, after the strictest
inquiry, confirming those facts upon which Her Majesty's counsels were
grounded and many persons, who were before inclined to believe that the
allies and the late ministry had been too much loaded by the malice,
misrepresentations, or ignorance of writers, were now fully convinced of
their mistake by so great an authority. Upon this occasion I cannot
forbear doing justice to Mr. St. John,[31] who had been secretary of
war, for several years, under the former administration, where he had
the advantage of observing how affairs were managed both at home and
abroad. He was one of those who shared in the present treasurer's
fortune, resigning his employment at the same time; and upon that
minister's being again taken into favour, this gentleman was some time
after made secretary of state. There he began afresh, by the
opportunities of his station, to look into past miscarriages; and, by
the force of an extraordinary genius, and application to public affairs,
joined with an invincible eloquence, laid open the scene of miscarriages
and corruptions through the whole course of the war, in so evident a
manner, that