happily called it, which was in no long time to pass into a persecution
anything but vague. On December 15th, in Westminster Abbey, Sharp was
consecrated Primate of Scotland, and at the same time Fairfoul was
raised to the see of Glasgow, Hamilton to the see of Galloway, and the
good and gentle Leighton to the see of Dunblane.

Meanwhile the English Parliament had by its Navigation Act crushed for
the time the short-lived hopes of Scottish commerce, and was now busy
with an Act of Indemnity. This had been practically one of the
conditions of the Restoration, but Scotland had not been included in the
bargain. Argyle was the first to suffer from the omission. He had gone
up to London to pay his court to the new King, but had been refused an
audience. He was arrested, and, after a short sojourn in the Tower, sent
back to Edinburgh to stand his trial for high treason before the
Estates. He was found guilty and beheaded in the High Street on May
27th, 1661, two days after the anniversary of the more shameful death
which he had helped to bring upon Montrose. As he had been expressly
pardoned during the King's short reign in Scotland for all acts
committed by him against the Crown up to the year 1657, and as his
accusers could find no evidence of communications with the Parliament
after that time, he must have been acquitted had it not been for Monk,
who at the last moment produced certain letters written by Argyle to him
when acting for Cromwell. Johnstone of Warriston was another victim,
whom, like Argyle, it was no hard matter for judges who had a mind that
way to bring within the compass of the law of treason. He, however,
managed to get across to the Continent before he could be arrested. He
was tried and condemned in his absence. After two years of painful
shifts and wanderings he was tracked down in France by a man known as
Crooked-back Murray, and sent back to his fate. A third victim was James
Guthrie, the most vehement and active of the Covenanters, the framer of