The force that recrossed the Border consisted of such mounted men as escaped, with the detachment of Monro which had not joined Hamilton.
The godly in Scotland rejoiced at the defeat of their army: the levies of the western shires of Ayr, Renfrew, and Lanark occupied Edinburgh: Argyll and the Kirk party were masters, and when Cromwell arrived in Edinburgh early in October he was entertained at dinner by Argyll.

The left wing of the Covenant was now allied with the Independents--the deadly foes of presbytery! To the ordinary mind this looks like a new breach of the Covenant, that impossible treaty with Omnipotence.

Charles had written that the divisions of parties were probably "God's way to punish them for their many rebellions and perfidies." The punishment was now beginning in earnest, and the alliance of extreme Covenanters with "bloody sectaries" could not be maintained.

Yet historians admire the statesmanship of Argyll! If the edge which the sword of the Covenant turned against the English enemies of presbytery were blunted, the edge that smote Covenanters less extreme than Argyll and the preachers was whetted afresh.

In the Estates of January 5, 1649, Argyll, whose party had a large majority, and the fanatical Johnston of Waristoun (who made private covenants with Jehovah) demanded disenabling Acts against all who had in any degree been tainted by the _Engagement_ for the rescue of the king.