Boston Public Library - Electric Scotland

22 PERSECUTIONS OF THE ALISONS.
Adventvre} It was then that Cairnduff, the original seat of
the Alisons, passed from them to the Cochranes, Mungo
Cochrane having married an Alison, the owner of tlie
estate.
After the death of Cromwell, his son Richard succeeded,
but soon after he was compelled to abdicate, and Charles II,
who had fled to the continent, returned again in 1660. Then,
if persecution existed before, it was increased ten fold now.
The acts he soon after passed testify to the severity of his
reign. By the Corporation act every individual v/ho did not
conform to the religion of the state was dismissed from his-
office, whether civil or sacred. By the Uniformity act 2,000
ministers in England and 400 in Scotland were ejected from
their churches and condemned as rebels to the state. By the
Conventicle act the Puritans of England and the Covenanters
of Scotland were forbidden to assemble in the house or
in the field under the penalty of death. Then it was that
Claverhouse scoured the moors and mountains of Scotland,
slaying with his sword or shooting with his gun all who
refused to abjure the Covenant and take the oath of allegiance.
These acts awakened a painful commotion in Avondale
and surrounding parishes, where the adherents of the
Solemn League and Covenant were numerous and powerful.
It was in 1664 that a considerable number in Avondale, Kil-
bride, and Carmunock were banished from their parishes.
Among these were James Alison and Archibald Alison, previously
of Cairnduff. They refused to attend the Prelatic
Church and otherwise aroused the indignation of the curates,
hence they were expelled from the parish of Avondale. James
Alison escaped to Renfrewshire, and ^became proprietor of a
farm called Kerrs, in the parish of Lochwinnoch. This James
Alison remained faithful to the Covenant in his new home.
In reading Crookshank's " History of the Church of Scotland,"
we find this James Alison, along with forty others,
compelled to walk through wind and snow to Stirling, where
they were imprisoned. We find the very same parties sent
to the Canongate prison, in Edinburgh, and after a mock
1 Michael Alison and William Alison went to Enj^land to escape to
America, that was then described as the "Land of Freedom."
The other brother that followed in 1645 was Thomas Alison. He was
born about the time the others left Scotland; but he left America, went
to Archangel, and there under the government of Russia commenced a
voyage to explore the North Pole. His journal of every day was pub-
lished in 1699. He describes his visit to the Northern seas, but ultimately
he reached the 71st degree of north latitude. He had numerous.
Scotchmen for companions, and his voyage was finished in 1697. He
was tlien an old man, and for thirty-eight years had followed the seas.