 On 1 February 1645 he was appointed a commissioner of the exchequer, was on the committee of war for Haddingtonshire in 1647, and on the committee of estates for Haddingtonshire and Forfarshire in 1647 and 1648.He was fined £5,000 by the Protector in 1648.On the question whether conditions should be obtained from the English army on behalf of Charles I, he was one of the four who voted against abandoning the king, and was removed in 1649 from his offices of judge and commissioner of the exchequer, on account of his accession to "the engagement", for the carrying on of which he had subscribed in the previous year £8,500 (Scots), repaid by order of parliament in 1662 after his death to his son Robert.