; 
——————— a 
FLETCHER. 369 
Fletchers cated. In the United Provinces he and: many,.of the 
—— : 
friends. of religion and liberty found an asylum. 
Me returned to, England in 1683, with bis friend and 
. countryman Robert Baillie of Jerviswood, who, in the 
following year, died on a scaffold at. Edinburgh, for ha- 
or connived at the expedition under the 
Duke of Monmouth, and the unfortunate-Earl of Ar-- 
gyle. It is recorded to.the honour of this virtuous 
man, that though he was offered his. life. on condition. 
of revealing what he knew of Fletcher’s connection 
with this fatal enterprise, he nobly rejected: the propo- 
sal, and died, as he had lived, the friend of religious 
and civil liberty. 
As to Fletcher, it appears that he acted a still more 
important part on that occasion than his friend; not 
are being a statesman, but having great knowledge in 
military affairs, he actually bore arms in that part of 
the expedition which landed in England, and served 
under Monmouth ; but finding that, contrary to,hisen- 
, that rash leader caused himself to be. pro- 
ned king without the choice and consent of the 
dple, and without any of those wise limitations which 
letcher considered necessary, he quitted his standard, 
and concealed himself till he f an opportunity of 
returning to the Continent. It is stated, that while he 
had the command of a party in this expedition, he kill- 
ed the ri hed of Lynn, in a dispute which arose about 
a horse belonging to that gentleman, which had been 
pressed into the service by histroops. It has even been 
said, that this event rendered him so unpopular in the 
little army, that it was deemed advisable for him to re- 
tire. Fletcher himself, however, complained of the 
injustice which had been done him in the account 
of that transaction; and, in his own account of his 
conduct on this occasion, which he afterwards gave to 
the Earl Mareschal of Scotland, he utterly denied that 
it had any thing to do with his leaving Monmouth; in 
_of which he stated, that he i at et with 
him till the proclamation above alluded to was made at 
Taunton, which Fletcher regarding as a violation of 
pride ta, Ooms and of his duty to the nation, 
brag all farther engagement to serve un- 
‘The vessel in which Fletcher made his escape, was 
bound for Spain. ,Information having, by some un- 
means, reached the ish minister at Madrid, 
of his arrival, he applied to the Spanish government, 
who caused him to be apprehended and put in prison, 
in order to his being transmitted rity Foon ut he 
escaped in a manner so extraordinary, that if it had not 
+ 
sed many curious books, which the 
journey, he met with several singular and pr 
deliverances, which he used to recount to his friends 
VOL. 1X. PART 1. ; 
ial, ~ her body, in case 4 
with pleasing and: pious emotion, regarding .them. ag . Fletchex. 
Pp s + pl : 3» reg s 
proofs of the special protection of heaven, _ eT 
We next find him serving as a volunteer in the Hun- 
garian war under the Duke of Lorrain. Meanwhile he 
had not been an inattentive observer of the signs of the 
times in his native land; but, having availed himself 
of such opportunities as occurred, of learning what was 
going on at home and in Holland, he gave up his _pro- 
spects of military fame and promotion,, and joined the 
band of exiles and patriots from Britain, who were pre- 
paring at the Hague for the execution of the grand en- 
terprize on which t the liberties of his country.were sus- 
pended. Having declined to accept James the Seyenth’s 
act of indemnity, under which several persons of dis- 
tinction had recovered. their estates and honours, he 
came over with the Prince of Orange in 1633, along 
with Bishop Burnet,,Sir Patrick Hume, &c. The suc- 
cess of this grand. effort is detailed in its proper place. 
At present, we haye todo with Fletcher, who, whilst 
in Holland, asserted the rights and liberties of Scotland 
previous to the Revolution, against William, Prince of 
Orange, with a firmness and unbending zeal’ which 
made him appear as desirous of giving the crown with- 
out the sceptre, and prevented him from being a fa- 
vourite of the prince. 
In the Convention Parliament which met in Scotland 
after the Revolution, he was.a strenuous advocate for 
popular freedom and limitations ; and it isa cir« 
‘cumstance highly honourable to him, that, except re- 
gaining possession of his family-estate, which happen- 
ed as a matter of course, he never seems to have enjoy- 
ed or desired any office, emolument, or pension, what- 
ever. “ Non sibi sed yparrie’s was the noble principle 
on which he acted.. King William re and fear- 
ed him; but finding him “ too fond of the right,. to 
pursue the expedient,” did not.confide in him... - 
In Fletcher's Political Works, which were. published 
in one 8vo. volume in 1737, we find seventeen speeches 
that had been delivered by him in the Scottish parlia- 
ment, most of them.about the year 1703; and all ex- 
cept three on the great questions which then agitated 
the nation, relative to the settlement of the Scottish 
crown, in the event of the death of Queen Anne with- 
out issue. In, these. speeches, which are certainly a 
great historical and literary curiosity, he advocates with 
great boldness the cause of popular right against royal 
privilege ; laments the degen of the nobility and 
people from. the high spirit of their ancestors, and re- 
them for their servility to England, He 
ught in and supported a bill entitled “ Act for the 
security of the Kingdom,” which, had it passed, would 
have lodged.the whole executive power in, the hands of 
the parliament, and rendered the king a mere puppet 
to. be shewn at a procession. Against this alarmmg 
. project, the Queen’s commissioner exerted all his influ. 
ence, and even si, that as, without the touch of 
the royal wh yee officially given to the act, as the Scot- 
tish mode. of, ing the royal assent, it would not 
have the force of a law; so that assent must be with. 
held, even if the scheme should obtain. the sanction of 
liament... Finding this could not be carried into a 
w, he formally moved, that “ the rmcpneed limitations 
should, be declared by a resolution of the House of Par« 
liament, to be the conditions upon which the nation 
will receive a successor to the crown.of this realm, after 
the decease Sogn) YN ie ate and failing heirs of 
e said successor shall be also king or 
queen. of England.” (Fletcher's Political Works, 
Sa 
