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CHAP.
II.
26 THE RESTORA T/ON IN SCOTLAND. 1660
away, Clarendon insisted upon a careful search for the copy of
the covenant which the king had signed in such ample and
binding terms in 1650. 1 The search was successful, but it
delayed the sending off of the precious documents till the
winter. With culpable disregard of their importance, they
were despatched by sea. On the way, the frigate on which
they had been embarked being hard pressed by a storm transferred
eighty-five of the hogsheads to a smaller vessel, which
sank with all its cargo off Berwick on December 18, 1660.
Many of the documents which remained on the frigate and
were therefore saved, still show traces of the salt water with
which they were soaked during the storm.
The immediate problems in Scotland were much the same
as those in England; the question of indemnity for past
offences, the revival of royal authority, and the settlement of
the Church. Soon after Charles' return he organised a council
at Whitehall to advise him about Scottish affairs. As a
security against too complete a separation of the two kingdoms,
it was arranged that six English privy councillors, Hyde,
Ormonde, Southampton, Monk, Manchester, and Nicholas,
should have seats in this council. Such an arrangement was
as repugnant to Scottish prejudices as the suppression of their
parliament, but it was acquiesced in without protest at the
time. Experience soon showed that it was only on broad
general lines of policy that these intruders could exercise any
control. In matters of detail, both ignorance and lack of interest
impelled them to leave the decision in the hands of the
numerous Scottish loyalists who hastened to seek profit and
promotion in the service of the restored king.
Among these men may be traced a marked division somewhat
like that which divided Hyde and Southampton from
Monk and Manchester. On the one side were the "malignants,"
or royalists proper, who were not only devoted to the
crown but afeo eager to restore episcopacy. Prominent among
them were the Earl of Glencairn, who had supported Charles I.
1 Two copies of the covenant as signed by Charles II. are in existence. One,
which was discovered by William Ryley, clerk of the records, in the search
ordered by Hyde, passed with the Clarendon Manuscripts to the Bodleian
Library, where it is still preserved. The other, whose history is more obscure,
was purchased in 1889 by Lord Rosebery, and is now in Barnbougle Castle.
Both documents appear to be equally authentic.