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CARSTARES (or CARSTAIRS), WILLIAM (16...

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Originally appearing in Volume V05, Page 411 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CARSTARES (or CARSTAIRS), See also:WILLIAM (1649-1715)  , Scottish clergyman, was See also:born at See also:Cathcart, near See also:Glasgow, on the 11 th of See also:February 1649, the son of the Rev . See also:John See also:Carstares, a member of the extreme Covenanting party of Protestors . He was educated at the university of See also:Edinburgh, and then passed over to See also:Utrecht, where he commenced his lifelong friendship with the See also:prince of See also:Orange, and began to take an active See also:part in the politics of his See also:country . The See also:government disliked Carstares for several reasons . He was the intimate of See also:William; he had been the See also:bearer of messages between the disaffected in See also:Scotland and See also:Holland; and he was believed to be concerned with See also:Sir See also:James See also:Steuart (1635–1715) in the authorship of a pamphlet—An See also:Account of Scotland's Grievances by See also:reason of the D. of See also:Lauderdale's Ministrie, humbly tendered to his Sacred See also:Majesty . Accordingly, on his return to See also:England, at the See also:close of 1674, he was committed to the See also:Tower; the following See also:year he was transferred to Edinburgh See also:Castle, and it was not till See also:August 1679 that he was released . After this he visited See also:Ireland, and then became pastor to a Non-conformist See also:congregation at See also:Cheshunt . During 1682 he was in Holland, but in the following year he was again in See also:London, and was implicated in the See also:Rye See also:House See also:Plot . On its See also:discovery he was examined before the Scottish See also:Council; though the See also:torture of the thumb-See also:screw was applied, he refused to utter a word till he was assured that his admissions would not be used in See also:evidence, and in the disclosures he then made he displayed See also:great discretion . On his return to Holland he was rewarded by William's still warmer friendship, and the See also:post of See also:court See also:chaplain; and after the Revolution he continued to hold this See also:office, under the See also:title of royal chaplain for Scotland . He was the confidential adviser of the See also:king, especially with regard to Scottish affairs, and rendered important service in promoting the Revolution See also:Settlement . On the See also:accession of See also:Anne, Carstares retained his post as royal chaplain, but resided in Edinburgh, having been elected See also:principal of the university .

He was also See also:

minister of Greyfriars', and afterwards of St See also:Giles', and was four times chosen See also:moderator of the See also:general See also:assembly . He took an important part in promoting the See also:Union, and was consulted by Harley and other leading Englishmen concerning it . During Anne's reign, the See also:chief See also:object of his policy was to frustrate the See also:measures which were planned by See also:Lord See also:Oxford to strengthen the Episcopalian See also:Jacobites —especially a See also:bill for extending the privileges of the Episcopalians and the bill for replacing in the hands of the old patrons the right of patronage, which by the Revolution Settlement had been vested in the elders and the See also:Protestant heritors . On the ac-cession of See also:George I., Carstares was appointed, with five others, to welcome the new See also:dynasty in the name of the Scottish See also:Church . He was received graciously, and the office of royal chaplain wasagain conferred upon him . A few months after he was struck with See also:apoplexy, and died on the 28th of See also:December 1715 . See See also:State-papers and Letters addressed to William Carstares, to which is prefixed a See also:Life by M'Cormick (1774); See also:Story's See also:Character and Career of William Carstares (1874) ; See also:Andrew See also:Lang's See also:History of Scotland (1907) .

End of Article: CARSTARES (or CARSTAIRS), WILLIAM (1649-1715)
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