service of the elector palatine any power that he might acquire. In September 1634 he therefore returned to England. Possibly any other man might under the circumstances have failed equally, but Hamilton had certainly not displayed any of the qualities which go to make either a successful general or a successful statesman.
After his return Charles took Hamilton as his adviser in all matters relating to Scotland. His hereditary influence was great in that kingdom, and, what was of special importance in a country where the nobility were of more weight than they were in England, a considerable number of the nobles attached themselves to him from considerations of interest. When the king visited Scotland in 1633, the collection of a taxation granted by parliament was placed in Hamilton's hands, with leave to repay himself out of it for the expenses of his German expedition. For some time little is heard of him, though he seems, as was natural for a Scotsman, to have opposed Charles's policy of allying himself with Spain. He had his share in the good things which Charles had to give away. In 1637 he became licenser of hackney coaches, and in 1638 he gained 4,000l. a year from the payments exacted from the Vintners' Company.
By far the most important part of Hamilton's life commenced when, in May 1638, Charles selected him as the commissioner to be sent to Scotland to pacify the country after the disturbances consequent upon the attempted introduction of the new prayer-book had culminated in the signature of the national covenant. Hamilton's conduct during the remainder of his career has been variously estimated. His character seems to have been devoid of intellectual or moral strength, and he was therefore easily brought to fancy all future tasks easy and all present obstacles insuperable. Accordingly, whenever he found himself engaged in a piece of work more than usually surrounded with difficulties, his instinct led him to turn back and to seek some way of escape. Add to this that, though he was personally attached to Charles, and was incapable of entertaining those designs upon his life and crown which were attributed to him, he was never whole-hearted in his devotion, and was disinclined to serve him beyond the point at which his own interests would be imperilled by more chivalrous conduct. He had property both in England and Scotland, and he could never persuade himself so to play his part as to bring heavy losses upon himself in either kingdom. He was at all times an advocate of compromises, because he had no interest in the higher religious or political issues of the strife.
Already, before he started, Hamilton anticipated evil. His countrymen, he declared, 'were possessed by the devil.' He arrived in Scotland on 4 June. On the 7th he informed Charles that it would need an army to force the Scots to abandon their demands. On the 8th he entered Edinburgh amidst a hostile population. On the 15th he wrote that it was useless to negotiate on terms short of the calling an assembly and parliament which would be certain to require the reversal of the king's ecclesiastical policy. He was by this time thoroughly cowed, and on the 24th he offered to the covenanters to return to England to urge the king to give way. Fresh orders from Charles interrupted his movements, and on 4 July he had to order the reading in public of a royal declaration to the effect that the prayer-book and canons would not be pressed except in a legal way. A declaration of this kind served only to exasperate the Scots, and Hamilton had to return to England to persuade Charles to yield more completely to the covenanters, as he had failed in inducing the covenanters to yield to Charles. It is said, and on good evidence, that before he left he tried to curry favour with the covenanting-leaders by encouraging them to stand firm in their resistance (Guthry, Memoirs, p. 40).
On 27 July Hamilton received instructions from Charles to go back once more to Edinburgh, and to allow the election of an assembly and a parliament. He was to protest against any proposal to abolish episcopacy, but might assent to any plea for making bishops responsible to future assemblies. On 10 Aug. he arrived in Edinburgh. He was at once involved in a controversy upon the mode of electing the promised assembly, and on the 25th he again returned to England. On 17 Sept. he appeared for the third time in Edinburgh, bringing with him a revocation of the obnoxious prayer-book, canons, and high commission, and also a new king's covenant less offensive to Charles than the national covenant was. To this he attempted to obtain signatures, but it found only a few supporters.
The assembly met in Glasgow Cathedral on 21 Nov., with Hamilton presiding as the royal commissioner. On the 28th, upon its declaring itself competent to judge the bishops, Hamilton dissolved it. It, however, continued its sittings in spite of the dissolution, and Hamilton returned to Charles to give an account of his mission.
On 15 Jan. 1639 he told his story to the English privy council. Charles was now resolved on war, and Hamilton was chosen
