276 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN.

chap. settling of all things with regard to the externallxvj. government of the church was a right of thei«7S. crown: That whatever related to ecclesiasticalmeetings, matters, and persons, was to be ordered,according to such directions as the king shouldsend to his privy council: And that these, beingpublished by them , should have the force oflaws. The other ad regarded the militia, whichthe king by his own authority had two yearsbefore established, instead of the army which wasdisbanded. By this act, the militia was fettled,to the number of 22,000 men , who were to beconstantly armed, and regularly disciplined. Andit was farther enacted, that these troops shouldbe held in readiness to march into England ,Ireland, or any part of the king’s dominions,for any cause in which his majesty’s authority,power, or greatness was concerned; on receivingorders, not from the king himself, but from theprivy council of Scotland.

Lauderdale boasted extremely of his servicesin procuring these two laws. The king by theformer was rendered absolute master of the church,and might legally, by his edict, re-establish, ifhe thought proper, the catholic religion inScotland. By the latter he saw a powerful forceready at his call: He had even the advantageof being able to disguise his orders under thename of the privy council; and in cafe of failurein his enterprises, could, by such a pretence,apologize for his conduct to the parliament ofEngland. But in proportion as these laws were