Life and diary of Lieut. Col. J. Blackader

CHAP. III. THE REVOLUTION. . 59
witnesses against themselves. They took down the
heads and hands of the martyrs, some of which had
stood for eight-and-twenty years on the gates and
market-crosses of the city, lest the horrid spectacle
might revive the memory of their guilt, and occasion
the question to be agitated, for what, and by whom
they had been set up ? *
Relieved from the terror of the military, the Revo-
lutionists seemed to dismiss all other apprehensions.
The panic of their enemies, they wisely improved to
their own advantage, and hastened to secure the easy
conquest it had given them. To intercept communi-
cation with the English Jacobites, they shut up the
channels of intelligence, dispersing emissaries through-
out the kingdom, who opened all packets and expres-
ses, and suffered no letters of importance to pass. To
supply the place of the disbanded troops, they ordered
militias to be raised and accoutred, and given in com-
mand to such officers as could be relied on. Every
precaution was adopted, - that policy could suggest.
The reins of legislature were now seized by other
hands ; while Liberty and Justice, returning from
exile, prepared to mount those seats which persecu-
tion and arbitrary power had left vacant.
The Convention of Estates had been summoned to
meet at Edinburgh, and met accordingly on the 14th
of March, 1689. Lord Angus' Regiment was not yet
embodied, but many of them served in the Camero-
nian Guard, that volunteered for the temporary pro-
tection of the Estates. In the honourable struggle for
independence, this sect had not remained idle or un-
» Grievances of the Cameronians.