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The
day was well advanced before Montrose noticed, inconspicuous in one
of the public galleries, the reddish hair and sallow features of the
chief of all-the Campbells, listening attentively.

'So
— Argyll removes himself from the Privy Council seats, and the
voting!' he murmured, to Napier. 'But stays to watch and listen. See
him yonder?'

'A
strange man. Henderson will rejoice. A victory for him, I think.
Argyll must conceive the issue to be going our way.'

'But
still does not commit himself! That such a man, so timorous, should
cut so wide a swathe in Scotland! It is scarce believable.
¹

'Do
not deceive yourself, Jamie. Argyll is not timorous. Cautious, yes,
but not timorous. I know him better than do you. Trust Tom Hope's
judgment of him - he is a notable judge of character. He said that
he would lead in Scotland - remember it! There is a man all must
watch. He is strong, despite his manner, in more than men and lands.
Henderson knows it. He must have him on the Covenant side.'

At
the next day's session the Earl of Argyll came down from his
discreetly modest perch, and took a seat, not with the Privy Council
again but prominent amongst the nobles who were not actual
commissioners - beside Morton his uncle, and Wigtown, indeed. It
turned out that he was not a representative of Inveraray Presbytery,
after all - although he easily could have been, since his word was
law in that area. He was remaining at the Assembly as a private
individual and forgoing his Privy Council vote. It was a strange
decision, typical perhaps of the man - but at least it was
clear indication of his disassociation with Hamilton and the King's
policy. Apart from Montrose, the Covenanters were elated.

These
two had to come face to face some time. It happened that evening
when the Covenant leaders were invited to attend a gathering at the
Earl of Loudoun's house in the Callowgate, one of the few nobles who
maintained a large town mansion in Glasgow, to discuss alarming
information that the King, even while his representative was
presiding over this Assembly, was making preliminary moves for the
mustering of a great army; and since its assembly-place was set for
Newcastle, within a short distance of the Scottish border, concern
was not irrational. Argyll was one of the first persons Montrose
saw, on entry to the house - he was Loudoun's kinsman and chief, of
course. The Campbell saw him, likewise - but neither moved forward
in greeting.

It
was Henderson who presently brought them together. 'My lords,' he
said, catching Montrose's arm, 'to have
MacCailen
Mor
and
An
Greumach Mor
in
the same room, is something of an occasion, I think! You are well
acquaint, I have no doubt?'

'We
have met,' James Graham bowed, stiffly formal for him.

'My
lord of Montrose's reputation is better known to me than his
person,' the other observed. ‘I am a man of retiring
habit, of course.' Argyll's voice was as unexpected as the rest of
him, a soft lilting Highland sibilance superimposed upon a naturally
nasal rasp, allied to a slight hesitation.

'The
more we value your lordship's presence with us, here,' the minister
announced. 'Is it not so, my lord of Montrose?'

'Indeed,
yes. It is a time for all men to declare themselves.' 'It is a time
for all men to consider their position,' the Campbell amended
thinly,

There
has been long for considering positions, my lord. Years. It is now
time for action, I think.' 'Action against the King, sir?'

‘
Not
against the King. Never that. Against the rule
of
bishops,
and the suppression of parliament.'

'Will
His Grace perceive the difference?'

'If
he does not, his Scots Privy Councillors should inform him.'

'His
Scots Privy Councillors must first assure themselves that it is so.'

'If
any are still in doubt, it is because they choose to be.'

"His
Grace himself has said, "No bishops, no king" !'

'Then
His Grace is mistaken. So far as Scotland is concerned. For
fifty years there were no bishops. Yet King James sat his throne
safe enough.'

'So
you are set to pull down the bishops, my lord?'

'Pull
down? For myself, I care not whether there be bishops or not, in
Scotland. So long as they do not attempt to rule the Kirk, change
our worship, sway the King and dominate the Privy Council.'

You
would permit them to remain, lacking these powers?'

'I
would, yes. If it would please the King. And those who think like
him. Shorn of these powers they could
do
little
harm.'

'There
I think you err, my lord,' Henderson, who had been listening to this
exchange carefully, interpolated. 'They should be rooted out quite.
The Kirk has no place for them. They are a relic of Popery, and must
go.'

'Which
of you speaks with the voice of this Covenant?' Argyll asked. 'The
Moderator? Or my lord of Montrose? When you have decided it, you may
inform me.' And bowing, the Campbell limped away to alternative
company.

They
looked at each other. 'We are not clever enough for that one,'
Henderson commented, frowning.

But
next day, nevertheless, Argyll had his answer. Whether Henderson was
determined to have it so, or whether this would have been the
programme anyway, almost from the start of the proceedings the
pressure was on the bishops, the office thereof and individual
holders of it. Deliverance after deliverance was pronounced on the
subject - and they were charges rather than questions for debate. In
vain did the Lord High Commissioner object; the Moderator ruled his
submissions as out
of
order.
Then Hamilton revealed that the bishops had anticipated this attack,
by subscribing a declinature to it beforehand, which he now insisted
should be read. As no bishops had risked putting in an appearance,
he called upon one of his own clan, the Reverend Dr Robert Hamilton,
of Glassford parish, Lanarkshire, to read it. Again the Moderator
ruled otherwise. This was not the time. Let the case against the
office of bishop be heard first; then there would be opportunity for
answer, defence, and this declinature.

Angrily
the High Commissioner declared that he would not sit there and
preside over a trial of the King's bishops. They were the highest
officers of the Church, and the Church's Assembly had no right or
authority to assail them.

Politely
Henderson grieved to say that he believed His Grace's Commissioner
was mistaken. The Assembly
had
powers
to question and try bishops, if necessary to depose them. Bishops,
or any other minister of the Church,

In
the uproar at this statement, Hamilton could not make himself heard.
When the Moderator at length gained him quiet, he shouted that it
was all wind, vain mouthings, empty threats. It was disgraceful that
the Moderator should make baseless statements, impossible of proof.

'Proof,
my lord? If you wish proof, you shall have it' Henderson signed to
Warriston.

Then,
to the wonder of all, the Clerk tapped a stack
of
yellowing
papers on his table, to announce that these were the records of the
General Assemblies of 1560 to 1590, thought to have been destroyed.
It was known that the bishops and Crown authorities had indeed
destroyed as much of the Presbyterian regime's records as they
could. These vital Assembly proceedings had been assumed to have
been amongst the first casualties. Their production, like this, was
a great triumph for the Covenanters. On Henderson's promptings,
Warriston read out the Act of the Dundee Assembly of 1580, duly
signed by the King, abolishing the office of bishop, in the Kirk;
and thereafter act after act of various others, all with the royal
subscription, confirming this and wiping out all traces of the
status and privileges of such prelates; likewise all subsidiary
offices and titles such as deans, archdeacons, chanters and the
like, all apt to be lumped under the heading of ‘popish
trash'. Shaken, Hamilton and the Privy Councillors sat
silenced.

This
is a properly-called and lawful General Assembly of the Kirk,' the
Moderator went on thereafter. 'So far as authority goes, we have
absolute right to deal with bishops as we think fit. By these
previous acts of Assembly the office had been shown to have had no
warrant or authority in Holy Scripture, but brought in by the folly
and corruption of men
's
inventions.
Does this Assembly wish to proceed with the matter? Or to let it lie
?'

The
great and continuing shout left no doubt
as
to
the wishes of the Assembly as a whole. So far as Scotland was
concerned, the office of bishop was
as
good
as
abolished.

That
night, Glasgow seethed like an ant-hill disturbed. The armed
supporters of the various factions were involved in many clashes,
and men everywhere were in a fever. The gauntlet was being thrown
down, with a vengeance.

That
vital decisions had crystallised overnight was immediately apparent
next forenoon. So soon as the High Commissioner came in and was
seated, he spoke.

'Mr
Moderator - I have announcement to make. As the King's
representative. The discussion of yesterday was, I rule, treasonable
and not to be tolerated. If, today, there
is
any
move towards die abolition of the office of bishop, or attempt to
attack absent prelates, I shall, in the King's name, dissolve and
close this Assembly as illegal,'

This
bombshell shook even Alexander Henderson. When he could make himself
heard, he protested. You cannot do this! None can dissolve an
Assembly of Christ's Kirk save its own members. You have not the
power.'

Hamilton
banged his chair, 'I need not you, sirrah, to teach me my powers. Or
my duty. I have the
King's
royal
authority, which none can contest. This Assembly will end,
if
any
further attack on the bishops is mounted. And meantime, I
insist that die declinature of the bishops be read forthwith.'