, minute difference of opinion should not prevent those who, in
general, wished well to their oppressed country, from drawing their swords in
its behalf. Many of the subjects of division - as, for example, that concerning
the Indulgence itself - arose, he observed, out of circumstances which would
cease to exist, provided their attempt to free the country should be successful,
seeing that the Presbytery, being in that case triumphant, would need to make no
such compromise with the Government; and, consequently, with the abolition of
the Indulgence, all discussion of its legality would be at once ended. He
insisted much and strongly upon the necessity of taking advantage of this
favourable crisis, upon the certainty of their being joined by the force of the
whole western shires, and upon the gross guilt which those would incur, who,
seeing the distress of the country, and the increasing tyranny with which it was
governed, should, from fear or indifference, withhold their active aid from the
good cause.
    Morton wanted not these arguments to induce him to join in any insurrection
which might appear to have a feasible prospect of freedom to the country. He
doubted, indeed, greatly, whether the present attempt was likely to be supported
by the strength sufficient to ensure success, or by the wisdom and liberality of
spirit necessary to make a good use of the advantages that might be gained. Upon
the whole, however, considering the wrongs he had personally endured, and those
which he had seen daily inflicted on his fellow subjects - meditating also upon
the precarious and dangerous situation in which he already stood with relation
to the Government, he conceived himself, in every point of view, called upon to
join the body of Presbyterians already in arms.
    But while he expressed to Burley his acquiescence in the vote which had
named him a leader among the insurgents, and a member of their council of war,
it was not without a qualification.
    »I am willing,« he said, »to contribute every thing within my limited power
to effect the emancipation of my country. But do not mistake me. I disapprove,
in the utmost degree, of the action in which this rising seems to have
originated; and no arguments should induce me to join it, if it is to be carried
on by such measures as that with which it has commenced.« Burley's blood rushed
to his face, giving a ruddy and dark glow to his swarthy brow.
    »You mean,« he said, in a voice which he designed should not betray any
emotion - »You mean the death of James Sharp