Appendix CASE ONE - Collection Point® | The Total Digital Asset ...

James Greenshields and the House of Lords: A Reappraisal 111
Episcopal neighbours might be Jacobites, though doubtless the majority were
not. In 1708 a fleet of thirty French ships with about 5,000 men had entered
the Firth of Forth, only to be chased away by a British fleet. This attempted
Jacobite invasion was followed by arrests, acquittals in Edinburgh treason
trials, the removal of high-ranking suspects to London, and their return
without conviction. The major sequel was the import of the English law of
treason in 1709, over the unanimous opposition of Scots in Parliament. 7
Greenshields entered this tense arena in early 1709. He claimed to be a
native of the city and he said he had studied at the University. He had
been ordained by the deposed bishop of Ross in 1694. A few years later
Greenshields went to Ireland where he held a cure in the diocese of Down
and then one in Armagh. He remained in Ireland for twelve years and during
that time he took oaths of allegiance to the English sovereign. There were
conflicting explanations for his return to Scotland. Greenshields said that
he was in Edinburgh on family business, and that while there his rector in
Ireland died and his curacy was taken from him. On the other hand Daniel
Defoe reported a rumour that Greenshields had been paid £80 to come and
set up in the city. 8
Greenshields admitted that he was encouraged by 'the desire of some
English gentlemen, her Majesty's servants here, and some other well-affected
persons'. The curate took a private chamber in the Canongate, where he
held services. When his first landlord was threatened with higher taxes,
Greenshields moved to another site. The second landlord sued Greenshields
in the court of the Dean of Guild for unauthorized remodelling; the curate
was once again forced to vacate. The Commission of the General Assembly
met on 5 August and made a decree against 'innovations in religion' aimed
at preventing the use of the English liturgy. This decree was read from all
pulpits on 21 August, and several meeting houses were ordered closed. 9
Nevertheless, at the end of August Greenshields was preaching in a new
meeting-house - only this time it was 'just opposite to the great church of
Edinburgh'. 10
At this affront the Presbytery summoned Greenshields, who appeared on
7 September. He declined their jurisdiction and was found in contempt and
ordered not 'to exercise any part of the office of holy ministry'. 11 This ruling
was passed to the magistrates who summoned Greenshields on 10 September
7 7 Anne c. 21 was formally titled 'An Act for Improving the Union of the Two Kingdoms'. See
P.W.J. Riley, The English Ministers and Scotland, 1707-1727 (1964), 104-19; and Bruce Lenman,
The Jacobite Risings in Britain, 1689-1746 (1980), 108.
8 A Review of the State of the British Nation (no.80), 8 October 1709.
9 Bishop Nicolson to Archbishop Tenison, 29 August 1709. British Library, Add. MS 6116, fo.15.
10 The details of Greenshields' experience are given in a number of contemporary pamphlets, the most
useful being The Case of Mr. Greenshields (n.6 above). The last quotation comes from the respondents'
case in the House of Lords, cited by Richard Colles, Cases in Parliament, 429 and reprinted in Efnglish]
Rfeports], i, 357.
11 S.R.O., Presbytery Minutes CH 2/121/7, 195.