Giles. For the effectual spreading of the Protestant doctrine, preachers
were planted in various parts of the country--Knox being appointed to
the principal charge in Edinburgh. But it was the approaching assembly
of the estates to which all men were looking with hopes or fears,
according to their desires and interests. The estates met on August 3d,
but it was not till the 8th that the attendance was complete. It was to
be the most important national assembly in the history of the Scottish
people; and the numbers of the different classes who flocked to it
showed that the momentous nature of the crisis was fully realized.
Specially noteworthy was the crowd of smaller barons from all parts of
the country. So unusual was the appearance of these persons that it had
almost been forgotten that their right to sit as representatives dated
from as far back as the reign of James I. A question raised, as to the
legality of an assembly which met independently of the summons or the
presence of the sovereign, was decisively set aside; and the House
addressed itself to the great issues involved in the late revolution.
The question of religion, as at the root of the whole controversy, took
precedence of every other. The first proceeding showed the national
instinct for the logical conduct of human affairs.
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