We  require  no  evidence  to  condemn  him  beyond  that
which  he  has  himself  supplied.  He  had  three  correspondents
during  1660  and  1661 ;  and  we  are  allowed  to  read  the
letters  he  sent  to  them.  The  first  was  Eobert  Douglas,  the
brave  minister.  The  second  was  Patrick  Drummond,  one  of
the  Presbyterian  clergymen  in  England.  The  third  was  the
Earl  of  Middleton.  It  might  be  hard  at  the  time  for  those
who  hoped  against  hope  to  abjure  their  trusted  agent ;  but,  in
what  he  says  to  these  three,  there  is  no  difficulty  now  in  tracing
his  "juggling,  prevarication,  and  betrayal."

On  the  1st  of  March  1660,  he  writes  Douglas  from  London
that  "  the  Cavaliers  point  him  out  as  the  Scottish  Presbyter  " ;
ten  days  later,  that  "Moderate  Episcopacy  is  setting  up  its
head  " ;  in  the  same  week,  that,  along  with  Calamy  and  Ash,
the  representatives  of  English  Nonconformity,  he  has  "  convinced
General  Monck  that  a  Commonwealth  is  unpracticable,"  and
has  "  beaten  him  off  that  sconce  he  hath  hitherto  maintained."
When  April  comes,  he  "  sees  not  full  ground  of  hope  that
Covenant  terms  will  be  rigidly  stuck  to " ;  by  the  middle  of
the  month,  he  is  sure  that  "  the  business  of  religion  will  be
altogether  waived  in  the  treaty  "  with  the  King ;  before  the
end  of  it,  he  "  smells  that  Moderate  Episcopacy  is  the  fairest
accommodation."  And,  all  this  while,  Douglas  is  encouraging
him  to  keep  unshaken  his  loyalty.  "  It  is  best  that  Presbyterian
government  be  settled  simply ;  for  we  know  by  experience  that
Moderate  Episcopacy  —  what  can  it  be  other  than  Bishops
with  cautions  ? — is  the  next  step  to  Episcopal  tyranny,  which
will  appear  very  soon  above  board  if  that  ground  once  be  laid.
