He owned he had given his assent to the cessation of arms, for which he took shame to himself, asking pardon of God, his country, and his conscience.

He affirmed, that the honour of his sovereign, and the good of his country, were the rules of his actions; but that, without respect of persons, should he find himself imposed upon, he durst pursue an evil minister from the queen's closet to the Tower, and from the Tower to the scaffold.

This conversion, however, was much more owing to a full persuasion that a ministry divided against itself could not long subsist, and that the protestant succession was firmly secured.

He therefore resolved to make a merit of withdrawing himself from the interests of a tottering administration, in whose ruin he might be involved.

The duke of Argyle charged the ministers with mal-administration, both within those walls and without: he offered to prove that the lord-treasurer had yearly remitted a sum of money to the Highland clans of Scotland, who were known to be entirely devoted to the pretender.