besides their old demerits, for justifying the intended
rigors against all of them, this reason, however slight, was greedily
laid hold of.

Affairs in Scotland hastened with still quicker steps then those in
England towards a settlement and a compliance with the king. It was
deliberated in the English council, whether that nation should be
restored to its liberty, or whether the forts erected by Cromwell should
not still be upheld, in order to curb the mutinous spirit by which the
Scots in all ages had been so much governed. Lauderdale, who, from the
battle of Worcester to the restoration, had been detained prisoner in
the Tower, had considerable influence with the king; and he strenuously
opposed this violent measure. He represented that it was the loyalty
of the Scottish nation which had engaged them in an opposition to the
English rebels; and to take advantage of the calamities into which,
on that account, they had fallen, would be regarded as the highest
injustice and ingratitude: that the spirit of that people was now fully
subdued by the servitude under which the usurpers had so long held them,
and would of itself yield to any reasonable compliance with their
legal sovereign, if, by this means, they recovered their liberty and
independence: that the attachment of the Scots towards their king, whom
they regarded as their native prince, was naturally much stronger than
that of the English; and would afford him a sure resource, in case of
any rebellion among the latter: that republican principles had long
been, and still were, very prevalent with his southern subjects, and
might again menace the throne with new tumults and resistance: that
the time would probably come, when the king, instead of desiring to see
English garrisons in Scotland, would be better pleased to have Scottish
garrisons in England; who, supported by English pay, would be fond to
curb the seditious genius of that opulent nation: and that a people,
such as the Scots, governed by a few nobility, would more easily be
reduced to submission under monarchy, than one like the English, who
breathed nothing but the spirit of democratical equality.

{1661.} These views induced the king to disband all the forces in
Scotland, and to raze all the forts which had been erected. General
Middleton, created earl of that name, was sent commissioner to the
parliament, which was summoned. A very compliant spirit was there
discovered in all orders of men. The commis