An Account of the late Great and Famous Victory Obtained over Two Thousand High-Land Rebels, In the North of Scotland, by His Majesty's Forces, Commanded by Sir Tho. Levistone, WITH A particular Relation of the Killing Five Hundred of the Enemy, and the Taking of One Huodred Prisoners; of which Number, were several Officers of Note.
Licensed, and Entered according to Order.
JUst now the Council received the following Account, by an Express from Sir Thomas Levistone (who Commands a part of our Forces in the North) that he having intercepted some Letters which discovered some Intriegues of the Rebels, and the measures they designed to take; he immediately assembled his Forces, which consisted of Eleven Hundred Men, and marched all Night after the Enemy, who were to the Number of Two Thousand: And, in their March, were forced to Ford a River up to their Arm-pits; Colonel Levistone, and other Officers, (to encourage the Soldiers) went in first: Our Men came up to the Enemy before day, and Attaqued them in their Camp; which was so great a surprise to them, that they immediately fled; and, in pursuit, there were Killed about Five Hundred of the Rebels, and One Hundred taken Prisoners, (among which were many considerable Officers of Note) with little loss on our side. The Prisoners gave Sir Thomas an account, That they expected daily to be joyned by a great many more; of whom the Colonel designs to go in pursuit of; and doubts not, but in a very little time, to be able to give a very good account of them.
On Saturday advice was brought to Edenbrough, from the West, giving an account, That a Ship Landed in Gallaway, near the Mouth of the Water of Oar, sent from the late King James, from the Bay of Dublin, with Men, Arms, and Ammunition, &c. they Landed some Men in the Night, undiscovered, who have gone through the Country with several Letters from the late King James. The Country People in that Place being in a posture of Defence, the next day seized the Vessel in the River, with the Arms and Ammunition, &c. and Sixteen Officers, who are sent for by the Council. This Ship carried but Four pieces of Cannon.
As the happy News, which almost daily arrives from Ireland, of the good Success His Majesties Forces meets with there, both by Sea and Land, is sufficient to encourage the hopes all good Protestants, and Well-wishers to the Interest of great Brittain have, of a speedy and intire Reduction of that Kingdom, to the subjection of the Crown of England; So the no less happy Accounts we have received of His Majesty's Affairs in the Kingdom of Scotland confirms all good Men in their Belief of the speedy and intire Settlement of that Kingdom, in the true Foundations of Peace and Unity; notwithstanding the Roman Catholicks and other Jacobites, Enemies to the Interests of their Majesties, and these Kingdoms, by their no less Impudent than false and scandalous Reports, which they daily spread abroad, with design to Poyson the Minds of many well-meaning People, and perswade them to the contrary: For as hitherto Almighty God has blest His Majesty, and His Arms with Success, in all His no less Just and Righteous, than Great Undertakings; so we doubt not but He will continue his Blessing unto Their Majesties, and Their good Subjects, and frustrate all the Designs of their Enemies. For a continuance of whose Blessing is, and ought to be the Prayers of all good Men.
London, Printed for W. D. in Bartholomew's-Close. 1690.
THE SPEECH OF William Earl of Crawfurd. PRESIDENT To the Parliament of Scotland. 1690.
I May say with Nehemiah, to the Nobles, Rulers, and rest of this Honourable Assembly; The work before us is great, let us not be separated upon the Wall one far from another, and our God will do for us, Our Religion, Church-Government, Publick Safety, Laws and Liberties, are all at Stake; and the Enemy is watching for our halting in our endeavours, for every one of them: Yet if God countenance us, so that Duty be made plain, and we be helped to follow it, we are under the Protection of a Prince, who is a great Judge where our true Interest lyes, and I am convinced, will frankly deal to us, whatever upon a just Claim, we shall apply for.
His Majesties Printed Instructions for last Session, are plain evidences of His tender regard of His People, and contain greater Condescentions than we have seen. or read of, in the Reigns of any of our Kings, for many Ages. But I trust this new Dyer, will compleat that Tranquility, which we so impatiently wish and wait for: And that we shall be engaged to say of His Majesty, as the Queen of Sheba did of Solomon; Blessed be the Lord thy God, which delighted in thee, to set Thee on the Throne, because the Lord loved us, therefore made he the King to do Judgment and Justice.
It were a suitable Return to His Majesty, for the great things He hath done for us, to repose an intire Trust in Him, and evidence a true Zeal for His Service; which in this Crittical time, as it would be most satisfying, and engaging to so generous a Prince: So it would be of notable advantage to His and our Affairs.
Were it not a seasonable part to guard against Prejudices towards one another, and when all is at Stake, to part with trivial differences, (our Enemies only reaping advantage by them) and to employ our selves to the outmost, for the Settlement of our Church, the Defence of the Kingdom, and the Enacting of other good Laws, now under our Consideration: That we may comfortably and fully partake, of the wonderful Deliverance God hath wrought for us?
If in our last Session we had begun at the House of God, other things might have framed better in our hands; hath not the Church Suffered sadly by our Differences? And have not our delays made the Work more difficult? The Opposition at home, and Clamor abroad, had certainly been less, and [Page 2]many honest suffering Ministers ere now had been relieved of their Pinches, if a greater Dispatch had been made. But what if any remainig Obstacle should prove a real Disappointment in the Establishing of our Church, would not the blame be lodged at our own Door? Some are at the same Language that was spoken in Haggai's days; The time is not come that the Lord's House should be built: To such I shall give the Prophets Answer, It is time for you to dwell in your Cieled Houses, and this House ly waste?
We have occasion with Ezra, to Bless the Lord God of our Fathers, that the stop is not at the King's Door, but that he hath put such a thing as this in his Heart, to Beautifie his House with that Model, which shall be suited to the Inclinations of his People, which I trust will be squared to the Pattern that was shewed in the Mount, and not merely regulated by Humane Policy.
We are threatned by a Forreign Enemy, our Country is Infested at home, and the Kingdom sadly exposed to many great Inconveniencies: What should become of us, if His Majesty withdrew His special Protection, and we were left to the rage of our Enemies? Though our Church were Settled to the greatest Advantage, and our other Grievances likewise Redressed, the Nation cannot be safe, without a supply suitable to the present Exigency.
It is matter of heavy Regrate, that so many are Groaning under the load of Forfeitures and Fines, and His Majesty willing to relieve them, and as yet no Issue put to those desirable Purposes.
May the Wisdom and Goodness of God, so Over-rule all our Counsels, that we be not imposed upon by false Notions of things: Let neither Partiality on the one side, nor Passion on the other, either keep up former Differences, or give a rise to new ones, lest it be said of us, as was spoke by Ezra upon the like occasion; And after all this is come upon us for our evil Deeds, and for our great Trespass, seeing that thou our God hast punished us less than our Iniquities deserve, and hast given us such Deliverance as this, should we again break thy Commandments?
What my Lord Commissioner spoke the other day, was delivered to such advantage, that any enlargment I could make on it, would be like a rash touch of a Pencil, by an unskilful hand, upon a compleat Picture; So I forbear every thing of that kind.
It is beyond Debate, that in this Honourable Assembly, the Hearts of a great many are very warm to His Majesty, and that His, tho at a distance from us, is no less filled with thoughts of Favour to us: So if the Result of our Counsels be not comfortable to our selves, and of National Advantage, I am afraid, the present oppertunity of doing well, if neglected, shall prove a heavy Charge against us, in the Day of our Accounts.
But as the Lord's hand hath been eminently seen in every step of our late escape from Popery, and begun Reformation; So I trust the Head-stone shall be put on with Shouting, and we shall in the Issue be forced to acknowledge, This is the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our Eyes.
Printed at Edinburgh: And Re-printed at London by George Croom, at the Blue-Ball in Thames-street. 1690.