It was, in short, like the wrath of Achilles, the spring of unnumbered
woes.

Then followed the execution of Charles. Against this the whole body of
Presbyterians joined in protesting. The hereditary right of kings was,
indeed, as much a principle of the Covenant as their divine right was
opposed to it; and the execution at Whitehall on January 30th, 1649, was
regarded with as much horror by the Presbyterians of England as by the
Presbyterians of Scotland.

The first act of the Estates was to proclaim the Prince of Wales king of
Great Britain, their next to send a deputation to Holland to invite him
to take possession of his kingdom. It had been better both for Charles
and for Scotland that the invitation had never been accepted. The terms
on which alone the Scots would see the son of Charles Stuart back among
them as crowned king were such as only the direst necessity could have
induced him to accept: they were such as it seems now amazing that even
the most bigoted and inexperienced could really have believed that the
son of his father, or, indeed, any man in his position, would keep one
moment longer than circumstances compelled him. But his advisers, led on
by Wilmot and Buckingham, bid him sign--sign everything, or all would be
lost. He signed everything. First he put his hand to the Solemn League
and Covenant: then to a second declaration promising to do his utmost to
extirpate both Popery and Prelacy from all parts of his kingdom:
finally, he consented to figure as the hero of a day of public fasting
and humiliation for the tyranny of his father and the idolatry of his
mother. And while he was acquiescing to each fresh demand with a shrug
of his shoulders and a whispered jest to Buckingham, and in his heart as
much hatred for his humiliators as he was capable of feeling for
anybody, he was all the while urging on Montrose to strike that wild