The following letter is the only one from the pen of Makemie known to be in existence. It was directed to Lord Cornbury; and bears date, Boston, July 28th, 1707:

"May it please your Lordship; I most humbly beg leave to represent to your Excellency my just astonishment at the information received from sundry hands, since my arrival in these colonies; and after so long and so expensive a confinement-so deliberate and fair a trial, before Judges of your Lordship's appointment, and by a jury chosen by your own Sheriff on purpose to try the matter-I have been legally cleared, and found guilty of no crime for preaching a sermon at New York; though my innocence should have protected me from unspeakable and intolerable expense, yet I am informed, may it please your Excellency, there are orders and directions given to sundry officers in the Jerseys for apprehending me, and a design of giving me fresh trouble at New York.

"If I were assured of the true cause of your Lordship's repeated resentments against me, I doubt not but my innocence would not only effectually justify me, but remove those unjust impressions imposed on your Lordship by some persons about

you.

"As to my preaching-being found at the trial to be against no law, nor any ways inconsistent with her Majesty's instructions produced there; and considering the solemn obligations I am under both to God and the souls of men, to embrace all opportunities of exercising those ministerial gifts vouchsafed to me from heaven-to whom I do appeal-I have no other end, besides the glory of God and the eternal good of precious souls; I must assure myself your Lordship insists not on this now as a crime, especially in New York government, where all Protestants are upon an equal level of liberty, and where there exists no legal Establishment for any particular persuasion.

"I hear that I am charged with the Jersey paper called Forget and Forgive. Though the proving a negative be an hard task, and not an usual requisition or undertaking, yet why should there be any doubt about the thing itself; the matter it contains being altogether foreign from me, and no way concerning me; the time of its publication, being so soon spread abroad after my arrival, I am well assured none dare legally accuse me, while the real authors are smiling at your Lordship's mistake and imposition. Your informers deserve to be stigmatized with the severest marks of your Lordship's displeasure: and the authors will find a time to confront my sworn accusers of perjury; and besides that I never saw it until about the last of February.

"We have suffered greatly in our reputations, and particularly by being branded with the character of Jesuits; though

my universal known reputation, both in Europe and America, makes me easy under such invidious imputations. I have been represented to your Lordship as being factious, both in the government of Virginia and Maryland. I have peaceably lived in Virginia; I have brought from Maryland a certificate of my past reputation, signed by some men of the best quality in the most contiguous county, ready to be produced at the trial, if there had been occasion for it. A copy of which I shall presume to enclose for your Lordship's perusal and satisfaction.

"I beg leave to represent to your Lordship my just concern. at the sundry precepts for apprehending me, both in York and the Jerseys, as one of the greatest criminals; whereby I am prevented in performing my ministerial duties to many in your Lordship's government of my own persuasion, who desire it.

"I shall patiently expect your Lordship's commands and directions, in giving me an opportunity for vindicating myself in what is charged against me, and being always ready to comply with any qualifications enjoined and required by law. "I beg leave of your Lordship, to subscribe myself, Your Excellency's most humble and

Most obedient servant,

FRANCIS MAKEMIE."

CHAPTER IV.

THE SCOTCH IRISH.

THE congregations gathered by Makemie, in Maryland, flourished after his death; and the Presbytery, formed principally by his agency, increased greatly, and stretched first northward, and then southward, and at last westward, under the auspices of numerous Synods, and the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church. For about thirty years after the death of Makemie, the number and influence of Presbyterians in Virginia were small. Not one flourishing congregation could be found, nor one active minister lived, in her borders. Then commenced a tide of emigration from his father land, the province of Ulster, Ireland, that spread over a beautiful section of Virginia, and filled up her wild borders with a peculiar race. The influence of that race of men on Virginia, in making her what she is, invests its history with an interest perpetually increasing, as the results of the meeting, the collision,-and the intermingling of the Old English and Scotch Irish members of

the British family, in the wilds of America, are manifested to the world. A sketch of the Old English stock is given in the first chapter. That race had a character peculiar and imposing. The Scotch Irish had a character equally as peculiar, and, though less imposing, more effective of religious eminence, and literary excellence, and not a whit behind in political aspirations, and self-denying labours in the cause of liberty.

A true estimate of Makemie, whose sufferings and labours and success, occupy the two preceding chapters, cannot be formed by considering him individually, or his actions in Virginia, and other provinces, apart from that race that gave him birth, and from the circumstances that moulded that race and made him what he was. Looking at him as he appears in Virginia, aside from his education, he appears to be the most singular man of his day; his course cannot be well understood. That he had principles of religion and morality of great energy and unchangeable power, is evident. And it is equally evident that they were not, what was anciently termed malignancy, or in more modern times, radicalism, or personal ambition, or enthusiasm, or bigotry, or jesuitical adherence to party. The current of his life flowed like a pure stream from an abiding equable fountain. To find that fountain we must cross the ocean, and search the records of his race in the province of Ulster, Ireland.

For a detailed account of the Scotch Irish,-their origin,their principles of religion, their church forms and government, their awakenings-their sufferings-their abortive, yet almost romantic, effort at emigration to America, in the Eagle Wing, their political opinions,-their expectations in emigrating to America, their influence in Ireland, and the formation of their religious and civil character, the reader is referred to the Sketches of North Carolina, published the latter part of 1846, by Carter, New York. The recent appearance of that volume, and the fulness of detail in chapters 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th, render the attempt at further delineation unnecessary. One powerful, and proximate, cause of emigration, omitted in that volume, will be given in this,-The Siege of Londonderry and its consequences.

The two distinct families of the British Empire met in Virginia, in circumstances well calculated to stimulate to vehement exercise the principles of both, in civil and religious matters. Their mutual action and reaction improved both parties; and Virginia is, now, what neither, singly, could have made her. Both had fixed principles of civil and religious liberty; but their views of liberty in the State, and in the Church, were somewhat different both in theory and practice. The scions of the Old English stock, in the "ancient dominion," considered, the en

joyment of religious ordinances established, maintained, and defended, by the State, undisturbed and unawed by any foreign power, to be religious liberty, the liberty of the majority, the liberty of an independent State.

The Scotch Irishman, on the frontier, thought freedom of choice in regard to doctrines of belief,-forms of worship,-and ordinances of religion,-and the undisputed and undisturbed exercise of this choice, confirmed to every member of society, and defended by law, made religious liberty.

The civil liberty of the English scion was the liberty of Englishmen, of the national church, in England, the liberty of King, Lords and Commons, with different grades in society, acting independently of all foreign powers. The Scotch Irishman thought freedom of person,-the right of possession of property in fee simple,-and an open road to civil honours, secured to the poorest and feeblest member of society, constituted civil liberty.

When these races came in collision, and their first meeting was a collision, there was exasperation and persecution; the strong arm of the law avenged the complaining Establishment on the sturdy defender of Calvinistic Presbytery. But when the soft hand of the seaboard grasped, in friendship, the toil hardened hand of the frontier, the "ancient dominion" gave refinement of manners, and received back religious freedom, on the only true and firm foundation, the Being, Attributes and Government of God, as revealed in the Gospel of his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. And the blending powers gave being and life to the civil liberty of Virginia, the mother of Presidents and of States.

CHAPTER V.

SIEGE OF LONDONDERRY: ITS CONNEXION WITH THE VALLEY OF VIRGINIA.

THE Siege of Londonderry, a small, badly fortified city, on the West bank of the Foyle, in the province of Ulster, Ireland, forms an important chapter in the history of the Protestant succession in England. It is particularly interesting to multitudes in the United States, whose ancestors sustained the siege, shared in the joy of the victory, but not in the advantages, and finally became exiles, to the wilds of America, to enjoy a Protestantism too pure for England, or the nations of Europe. It is an unquestionable fact of history, though it may be slow in

finding its place in volumes written by English hands for English eyes, that the shutting the gates of Derry, Friday, Dec. 7th, 1688, by the APPRENTICE BOYS, followed by the distressing siege of eight weary months, in which the Irish forces of James II, assisted by troops from France, heaped upon the inhabitants, and the soldiers gathered within the narrow walls, all that can be endured by mortal famished man,-ending, as the siege finally did, in the disgraceful departure of the popish forces,-turned the scale in favour of William of Nassau and secured to him the crown of England, and to the country at large the succession of Protestant Kings and Queens that have filled the throne to this day.

Had the gates of Derry remained open, or had the siege terminated in the early capitulation of the city, the forces from France and Ireland would have gone to Scotland to act in concert with the famous Claver'se in favour of James. Who can calculate the effects of that union of forces? Even supposing the hour of Claver'se had come, and he must fall in some indecisive victory, James might have defended his crown against his son in law, the Prince of Orange, if not to victory, at least to a prolonged and sanguinary contest. James had the rare fortune to turn all favourable circumstances and events against himself, and a singular inability to turn adversity to his favour. But the Scotch and Irish and French forces united under able leaders would have tasked both the courage and ability of William and his followers. Londonderry broke up all arrangements. Her siege consumed the money, the provisions, and the men that were to vindicate the rights of James. Claver'se waited, and in despair gained his last victory, and died an ignobly glorious death. Scotland was lost to James. Ireland, then the field of contest, was abandoned after the battle of the Boyne. James felt his crown was lost. But had Derry been possessed in time, the battle of the Boyne could not have been fought; the decisive battle would have been elsewhere. It is a matter of surprise, and scarcely to be accounted for, that a place so badly fortified as Derry could have held out so long. An experienced commander, exclaimed at a glance,-"It is impossible a military man should have attempted its defence: or that such an one should have failed in its reduction."

William of Orange landed in England on the 5th of November, 1688. That may be considered as the first act of hostility. James, in the distraction of his councils, summoned his forces from Ireland. He supposed that England or Scotland must be the battle ground. Lord Mountjoy who had possession of Derry, with a regiment of disciplined soldiers, left this little town, in the extreme north of Ireland, vacant, and hastened to