Scottish people by force; and Hamilton, though with evident reluctance, lent himself to the dishonest policy of his master. The covenanters, however, distrusted the sincerity of both, and firmly adhered to their principles. The marquis presided as royal commissioner at the memorable assembly held in Glasgow in November, 1638, which abolished the entire episcopal government and form of worship; and he attempted, but in vain, to arrest its root-and-branch reforms by declaring the assembly dissolved. In the following year he was despatched to Scotland with a fleet of twenty ships of war, while Charles himself marched northwards at the head of twenty thousand men, for the purpose of reducing his refractory subjects to obedience; but the expedition proved entirely abortive. When hostilities at length broke out between the king and the English parliament, both parties eagerly strove to obtain the assistance of the Scots. Montrose earnestly urged that the royalists in Scotland should take up arms at once. Hamilton, on the other hand, recommended a cautious and temporizing policy, in the hope that the covenanters would be gained over by courtesy and kindness. Charles approved of Hamilton's advice, and, conferring a dukedom on him as a mark of his confidence, sent him back to Scotland with large powers. His trimming policy, however, proved completely unsuccessful. The covenanters sent a powerful army to the assistance of the parliament; and Charles was so much provoked at this result, that, suspecting the duke of treachery, he caused him, on his arrival at Oxford, in December, 1643, to be put under arrest and sent prisoner to Pendennis castle, and afterwards to Mount St. Michael in Cornwall. In spite of this severe treatment, on regaining his liberty, after a confinement of twenty-eight months, the duke was among the first to wait upon the king at Newcastle, when he sought refuge with the Scottish army. He vehemently opposed the surrender of the unfortunate monarch to the English parliament, and, with unshaken loyalty, he exerted his utmost influence to retrieve the desperate fortunes of his royal master. Having obtained the sanction of the Scottish Estates, he levied an army for the purpose of rescuing the king by force of arms; and marched into England at the head of an ill-equipped and badly-disciplined body of raw levies, amounting to about fifteen thousand men. But his abilities were altogether unequal to the enterprise which he had undertaken. The main body of his army was defeated and captured by Cromwell and Lambert at Preston, August 17th, 1648. The duke himself, with his principal officers and about three thousand cavalry, fled to Uttoxeter, where they were intercepted and compelled to lay down their arms. He was imprisoned at Windsor, from which he made his escape a few hours after the execution of the king; but was retaken next morning, brought to trial on the 6th of February, found guilty of treason, and beheaded in Palace Yard on the 9th of March, 1649, in the forty-third year of his age. The duke of Hamilton was a man of amiable, though reserved disposition, and unswerving loyalty; but he was placed in a position, in very trying times, for which his moderate abilities and vacillating character rendered him quite unfit; and his want of sagacity, firmness, and energy, caused his efforts in behalf of the royal cause to prove entirely fruitless, and in some instances positively mischievous. He was succeeded by his brother—
William, second duke of Hamilton, who was born in 1616. He was created a peer by the title of Earl of Lanark in 1639, and was appointed secretary of state for Scotland in 1640. He was arrested along with his brother in 1643, but made his escape, and coming down to Scotland joined the covenanters. Like his brother, however, he strongly opposed the surrender of the king to the English parliament in 1647; actively promoted the engagement for his rescue in 1648, and when the Scottish army marched into England for that purpose, was appointed commander-in-chief of the forces left in Scotland. Shortly after the overthrow of the royal party he went abroad, but returned to Scotland with Charles II. in 1650. He was for some time excluded from the court and from office by the extreme covenanting party, but was permitted to assist in the defence of the country, after the defeat at Dunbar. He accompanied Charles in his expedition to England as second in command, and was mortally wounded at the battle of Worcester, 3rd September, 1651, and died on the 12th of that month in his thirty-fifth year. The English titles of the family became extinct at the death of Duke William, but the duchy devolved upon his niece—
Anne, Duchess of Hamilton, daughter of James, first duke, who was born about 1636. She married Lord William Douglas, son of the first marquis of Douglas, who was born in 1634, created Earl of Selkirk in 1644, and at the Restoration was made duke of Hamilton for life. His grace frequently opposed the measures of the court during the reign of Charles II., but his opposition even to the most flagrant acts of tyranny was cautious and languid. James appointed him a privy councillor and one of the commissioners of the treasury, and he was implicated in many of the unjustifiable acts of the Scottish privy council at that period. On the landing of the prince of Orange, however, the duke presided at the meeting of the Scottish nobility and gentry in London, who requested the prince to assume the government of Scotland. Although his abilities were but moderate, and his political career by no means straightforward or consistent, he was selected by the whig party as their leader on account of his illustrious descent and vast influence, and after a keen contest was elected president of the convention at Edinburgh in 1689, which declared the throne vacant, and tendered the crown to Mary and William. When the convention was turned into a parliament, the duke was nominated lord high commissioner. He was appointed president of the council and high admiral of Scotland, but having quarrelled with the court retired for a considerable time into private life. He was reconciled to the government, however, and quitting his retreat was appointed commissioner to the parliament of 1693. Hamilton was a man of fair abilities and of respectable character, tried by the low political standard of the day; but he was fickle, false, and greedy, and so provoked William by his factious conduct, that he exclaimed on one occasion—"I wish to heaven that Scotland were a thousand miles off, and that the duke of Hamilton were king of it; then I should be rid of them both." Bishop Bumet says the duke "wanted all sort of polishing. He was rough and sullen, but candid and sincere [a great mistake.] His temper was boisterous, neither fit to submit nor to govern." The duke died in April, 1694, in the sixtieth year of his age.
James, fourth duke of Hamilton, son of the preceding, was born in 1658, and educated at the university of Glasgow. After completing his education he made a tour on the continent, and on his return in 1679 was appointed one of the gentlemen of the bedchamber by Charles II., with whom he was a favourite on account of his good humour and wit. In 1683 he was nominated ambassador extraordinary to France, served two campaigns as aid-de-camp to the French king; and on leaving France, after the death of Charles II. in 1685, was warmly recommended to James VII., his successor, by Lotus XIV. himself. The earl of Arran, as he was then called, received from the new king the office of master of the wardrobe, in addition to his former post, the command of the royal regiment of horse, and a grant of the forfeited estates of the Stewarts of Coltness, who were stripped of their property on account of their nonconformist principles. When the Restoration took place Arran adhered to the cause of James, while his father the duke, according to a common course of policy at that period, supported the claims of William, so that in any event the family titles and estates were safe. Arran was deeply implicated in Montgomery's plot for the restoration of the exiled family, and was twice committed to the Tower on suspicion of treason. On regaining his liberty he returned to Scotland, and spent several years there in retirement. The death of his father in 1694 brought him no accession of title or estate, as both were possessed by his mother. But in 1698 the duchess resigned the family dignities into the hands of the king, who immediately conferred them on her son, to the no small surprise of the friends of government, as the disaffection of Arran was well known. During the excitement connected with the failure of the Darien expedition, the new duke acquired great popularity by heading the opposition to the ministry, and strenuously supporting the claims of the African company. On the accession of Queen Anne he protested against the legality of the meeting of the convention parliament, affirming that it ought to have been dissolved on the death of William, and withdrew from the house followed by seventy-nine of the members—a step which was warmly resented by the queen. His grace took an active part in the discussions about the union of the two kingdoms, and was regarded as the leader of the opposition to that measure. But he suddenly abandoned his party at a critical moment either through treachery or fickleness, and by his desertion completely paralyzed their movements. He contrived to keep up a correspondence with the exiled monarch, but his attachment to James
