George. Those who had
suffered in his service now entertained the most unreasonable hopes,
not only of indemnification, but of vengeance upon their political
adversaries; while families attached to the Whig interest saw nothing
before them but a renewal of the hardships they had undergone during the
reigns of Charles the Second and his brother, and a retaliation of the
confiscation which had been inflicted upon the Jacobites during that of
King William.
But the most alarmed at the change of system was that prudential set of
persons, some of whom are found in all governments, but who abound in a
provincial administration like that of Scotland during the period,
and who are what Cromwell called waiters upon Providence, or, in other
words, uniform adherents to the party who are uppermost. Many of these
hastened to read their recantation to the Marquis of A----; and, as
it was easily seen that he took a deep interest in the affairs of
his kinsman, the Master of Ravenswood, they were the first to suggest
measures for retrieving at least a part of his property, and for
restoring him in blood against his father's attainder.
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