A carrier is an extremely useful channel of
communication; and, in fact, there can be really no doubt that Brown had
been for some time engaged in practices which the most iniquitous
Government in the world could hardly be blamed for thinking
inconvenient. It has been suggested that Claverhouse was at that time
especially on the watch to intercept all communication between Argyle
and Monmouth, and that Brown was employed in carrying intelligence
between the rebel camps. Macaulay refuses this suggestion. He points out
with perfect truth that both Argyle and Monmouth were at that time in
Holland. But when he goes on to say that there was no insurrection in
any part of our island, he goes rather too far. The western shires of
Scotland had been in a state of insurrection ever since the Pentland
rising, if there be any meaning in the word at all. And, though it is
true that on May 1st (the day of Brown's death) Argyle was in Holland,
it is no less true that on the second he had left Holland for Scotland;
that since April 21st the Privy Council had been well informed of his
designs; that measures had been taken for putting the whole kingdom in a
state of defence against him; and that arrests had been already made on
account of treasonable correspondence with him.[57] But the question is
not one of probabilities, and moreover against these probabilities it
may be very fairly urged that Claverhouse's own despatch proves that the
nephew's confession and the discovery of the underground armoury were
not made till after the uncle's death.
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