William White: The original Covenanters and constitutionalism

[Reformed Covenanter]

Let us now look at the position which the original Covenanters occupied among the great parties that were in the land. From the representations frequently given of them, one would suppose that they were the most extreme among all the fanatics of the country. But, when we appeal, from the servile cant of modern liberality, and from the current slang of high church sycophancy, to the tribunal of sober history, it appears undeniable, that of all the parties in the country, the Covenanters alone maintained the principles of the British constitution.

Their opinions were equally opposed to those of the cavaliers, who urged Charles forward in the path of usurpation; and to those of the sectarians, who overthrew the monarchy, and brought the king to the scaffold. Thus opposed, and equally opposed, to arbitrary power, and to sectarian anarchy, the original Covenanters, of all parties then in the land, were most undeserving of the name of bigots. The cavaliers were bigots, though they wanted religion, for they urged on the king to his ruin, and plunged the nation into all the horrors of a civil war, without any wise, or even plausible pretence. The sectarians may, with much justice, be accused of bigotry, for they sacrificed the interests of their country for the miserable object of party aggrandisement. ...

For more, see William White: The original Covenanters and constitutionalism.