| To the King's most excellent Majesty |
| May it please your Majesty. |
| We your Majesty's faithful & loyal Subjects the Ministers &
Elders met in the Provincial Synod of Glasgow and Air do with all
humility beg leave to approach your Majesty's throne there to express
the Sentiments of our hearts. |
| We are deeply penetrated with a grateful sense of the many &
great blessings enjoyed by the Church of Scotland under the auspicious
Government of your Majesty's illustrious House. And have the fullest
confidence in your Majesty's goodness & steady resolution to preserve
& support our happy establishment in Church & State. |
| We therefore think it our duty to express to your Majesty the anxious
fears which we & our people are under, from the present apparent
growth of Popery among us, and of the fatal consequences which must
necessarily ensue to the eternal concerns of the People committed
to our case,& to the interests of this Church as by law established,
if by any means that unhallowed superstition, equally unfriendly to
your Majesty's Family and government, and to the Religion and Morals
of your loyal subjects, should gain further ground among us. |
| We are the rather encouraged to make this application from the many
salutary laws formerly enacted to defend our Presbyterian Constitution
against Popery, and by our past experience of your Majesty's regard
for this Church, so frequently & graciously expressed to us by
work & letter. |
| Permit us therefore humbly to entreat of your Majesty That whatever
shall seem proper to your Royal Wisdom may be done, to quiet the minds
of your Majesty's loyal Subjects in this part of your Dominions, by
preserving our constitutional securities. |
| And that the King of Kings may pour down of his best blessings upon
your Majesty, your Royal Consort the Queen, the Prince of Wales, and
all the Royal Family; That his spirit may prompt all your undertakings,
his Wisdom may direct all your counsels, and his Power crown them
with success, are the sincere prayers of, |
| Most Gracious Sovereign |
| Your Majesty's most faithful, |
| Obedient, and loyal subjects, |
| The Ministers and Elders of the Provincial Synod
of Glasgow and Air. |
| Signed in our Name in our Presence and at our
appointment by |
| John Burns Moderator. |
| Glasgow |
| 16th Oct[obe]r 1778 |
| My Lord, |
| I am sorry to acquaint your Lordship that the apprehensions which
I expressed in my Letter of the 21st were but too well founded. Last
Night a considerable Mob rose last night
, and set Fire to an House which the Papists employed as a Chapple,
and attacked that where Mr Hay (titular Bishop of Edinburgh) resided.
The Magistrates, supported by 250 of the Military, prevented any further
Excesses for that time, and took four of them Prisoners: But the Tumult
has by no means subsided. This morning the Magistrates inform me that
the Mob threaten the Houses of Principal Robinson, the Lord Advocate,
and Councellor Crosbie, supposeing them Friends to the Popery Bill,
and of Lord Linton as a Roman Catholick. I have endeavoured to convince
them that Men of no Denomination are safe from the Outrages of a Mob
bent upon Mischeif; and they promise to exert themselves with vigour:
which, if attended with Success, may prevent the Flame from spreading
through the Country. To Morrow I shall, probably, be able to form
a better Judgement what Turn this mischeivous beginning is likely
to take: but I thought it my Duty to apprise your Lordship, by Express,
of what has allready happen'd. |
|
