Transcriber’s Note: Italic text is denoted by _underscores_.
_The Early History of the Scottish Union Question_
SOME OPINIONS OF THE PRESS ON THE FIRST EDITION.
“With considerable literary skill he has compressed into a brief compass
a most readable and impartial account of the efforts which from the time
of Edward I. went on to weld the two countries into one.”--_Edinburgh
Evening News._
“Mr. Omond tells his story brightly and with full
knowledge.”--_Manchester Guardian._
“A genuine contribution to British history.”--_Dumfries Courier._
“There is much to interest and inform in this volume.”--_Liverpool
Mercury._
“The conciseness of the sketch, instead of detracting from the worth of
the work, rather enables the author to give a more vivid description of
the course and progress of events.”--_Dundee Advertiser._
“Mr. Omond has laid students of British history under a debt of
gratitude to him for his work on the Scottish Union question.”--_Leeds
Mercury._
“Mr. Omond is at home in the struggles which led up to the act of Union
in 1707.”--_British Weekly._
“His book, modest and unpretentious as it is, is a careful contribution
to the study of one of the most important features of the history of the
two kingdoms, since 1707 united as Great Britain.”--_Liverpool Daily
Post._
“A handy summary of the history of such international relations, written
with an orderly method and much clearness and good sense.”--_The
Academy._
“A handy, well-written volume.”--_Pall Mall Gazette._
“A very interesting, as well as very instructive book.”--_Literary
World._
[Illustration: JOHN HAMILTON, LORD BELHAVEN.]
_The Early History
of the
Scottish Union Question_
_By
G. W. T. Omond_
_Author of
“Fletcher of Saltoun” in the “Famous Scots” Series_
_Bi-Centenary Edition_
_Edinburgh & London
Oliphant Anderson & Ferrier
1906_
_Now Complete in 42 Volumes_
_The Famous Scots Series_
_Post 8vo, Art Canvas, 1s. 6d. net; and with gilt top and uncut
edges, price 2s. net_
THOMAS CARLYLE. By HECTOR C. MACPHERSON.
ALLAN RAMSAY. By OLIPHANT SMEATON.
HUGH MILLER. By W. KEITH LEASK.
JOHN KNOX. By A. TAYLOR INNES.
ROBERT BURNS. By GABRIEL SETOUN.
THE BALLADISTS. By JOHN GEDDIE.
RICHARD CAMERON. By Professor HERKLESS.
SIR JAMES Y. SIMPSON. By EVE BLANTYRE SIMPSON.
THOMAS CHALMERS. By Professor W. GARDEN BLAIKIE.
JAMES BOSWELL. By W. KEITH LEASK.
TOBIAS SMOLLETT. By OLIPHANT SMEATON.
FLETCHER OF SALTOUN. By G. W. T. OMOND.
THE BLACKWOOD GROUP. By Sir GEORGE DOUGLAS.
NORMAN MACLEOD. By JOHN WELLWOOD.
SIR WALTER SCOTT. By Professor SAINTSBURY.
KIRKCALDY OF GRANGE. By LOUIS A. BARBÉ.
ROBERT FERGUSSON. By A. B. GROSART.
JAMES THOMSON. By WILLIAM BAYNE.
MUNGO PARK. By T. BANKS MACLACHLAN.
DAVID HUME. By Professor CALDERWOOD.
WILLIAM DUNBAR. By OLIPHANT SMEATON.
SIR WILLIAM WALLACE. By Professor MURISON.
ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. By MARGARET MOYES BLACK.
THOMAS REID. By Professor CAMPBELL FRASER.
POLLOK AND AYTOUN. By ROSALINE MASSON.
ADAM SMITH. By HECTOR C. MACPHERSON.
ANDREW MELVILLE. By WILLIAM MORISON.
JAMES FREDERICK FERRIER. By E. S. HALDANE.
KING ROBERT THE BRUCE. By A. F. MURISON.
JAMES HOGG. By Sir GEORGE DOUGLAS.
THOMAS CAMPBELL. By J. CUTHBERT HADDEN.
GEORGE BUCHANAN. By ROBERT WALLACE. Completed by
J. CAMPBELL SMITH.
SIR DAVID WILKIE, AND THE SCOTS SCHOOL OF PAINTERS. By
EDWARD PINNINGTON.
THE ERSKINES, EBENEZER AND RALPH. By A. R. MACEWEN.
THOMAS GUTHRIE. By OLIPHANT SMEATON.
DAVID LIVINGSTONE. By T. BANKS MACLACHLAN.
THE ACADEMIC GREGORIES. By AGNES GRAINGER-STEWART.
JOHNSTON OF WARRISTON. By WILLIAM MORISON.
HENRY DRUMMOND. By JAMES Y. SIMPSON.
PRINCIPAL CAIRNS. By JOHN CAIRNS.
VISCOUNT DUNDEE. By LOUIS A. BARBÉ.
JAMES WATT. By ANDREW CARNEGIE.
_Preface_
The history of the final union of England and Scotland, which took place
on the 1st of May 1707, commences with the accession of Queen Anne; and
with regard to that event, the best sources of information, apart from
original letters, diaries, and other contemporary documents, are Daniel
Defoe’s _History of the Union_, published in 1709, Dr. Hill Burton’s
_History of Scotland_, Mr. John Bruce’s _Report on the Events and
Circumstances which produced the Union_, published, for the use of
Government, in 1799, and Dr. James Mackinnon’s _Union of England and
Scotland_, published in 1896. In this volume I have endeavoured to
describe the _earlier_ attempts to unite the kingdoms. These commence,
practically, in the reign of Edward I. of England, and continue, taking
sometimes one form and sometimes another, down to the reign of William
III.
While giving an account of the various negotiations for union, and of
the union which was actually accomplished during the Commonwealth, I
have tried to depict the state of feeling between the two countries on
various points, and particularly in regard to the Church question, which
bulks more largely than any other in the international history of
England and Scotland.
It is a story, sometimes of mutual confidence and common aspirations, as
at the Reformation and the Revolution, but more frequently of
jealousies, recriminations, and misunderstandings, most of which are now
happily removed.
My authorities are sufficiently indicated in the footnotes.
G. W. T. O.
_Contents_
CHAP. PAGE
I. INTERNATIONAL POLITICS BEFORE THE UNION OF THE CROWNS 9
II. THE UNION OF THE CROWNS 52
III. THE UNION DURING THE COMMONWEALTH 96
IV. FROM THE RESTORATION TO THE REVOLUTION 122
V. THE REVOLUTION SETTLEMENT 147
_The Early History of the Scottish Union Question_
CHAPTER I
INTERNATIONAL POLITICS BEFORE THE UNION OF THE CROWNS
The races which inhabited the northern parts of England and the southern
parts of Scotland were descended from a common stock, and spoke a common
language. But for centuries the problem of uniting them baffled the
best-laid plans of kings and statesmen; and neither force, nor policy,
nor treaties of marriage between the royal families, seemed capable of
destroying the inveterate rancour which the peoples felt towards each
other. The petition in response to which the papal sanction was given to
the intended marriage of Prince Edward to the Maid of Norway, pointed
out the wisdom of removing, or at least mitigating, the enmity of the
two nations; and it was the avowed policy of Edward the First to
combine the marriage of his son to the young Queen of Scotland with a
peaceful union of the kingdoms. The clergy, the nobles, and the people
of Scotland agreed to the proposed alliance, and were willing that their
queen should be educated at the English Court. The marriage-contract was
prepared; and the prospects of a lasting peace were bright, when the
death of the young princess on her journey from Norway suddenly changed
the whole course of events.
The competition for the Scottish Crown; the arbitration of Edward; his
claim to the title of Lord Superior; the invasion of Scotland; the
occupation of Scottish strongholds, and of large portions of Scottish
territory, by English garrisons; the homage paid to the English king by
the competitors for the Crown; the spectacle of Englishmen filling many
great offices of State;--all tended to exasperate the Scottish nation.
But Edward never seems to have doubted that he would succeed no matter
at what a cost of blood and treasure in joining the kingdoms. Indeed, it
appears that from the summer of 1291, when the competitors for the
Crown granted him possession of Scotland until his decision should be
made known, he regarded the two countries as practically one. Scotland
is described, in public documents, as “notre ditte terre d’Escose”; and
it was expressly declared that, as England and Scotland were now united,
the king’s writ should run in both realms alike.[1]
During the inglorious reign of Baliol, and throughout the period of
anarchy and turmoil which followed its termination, Edward never lost
sight of his favourite policy of an union, which, though brought about
by conquest, and imposed by force of arms upon the people of Scotland,
would, nevertheless, in course of time, secure for him and his
successors the sovereignty of an undivided kingdom from the English
Channel to the Pentland Firth. In pursuance of his policy he resolved
to hold a Parliament in which Scotland should be represented, and by
which regulations should be framed for the future government of that
country. To this Parliament, which met at Westminster in September 1305,
ten representatives of Scotland were summoned.[2] All of them attended
except Patrick Earl of March; but his place was filled, at the king’s
command, by Sir John Monteith, the betrayer of Wallace, whose execution
had taken place less than a month before.
With the Scotsmen twenty-two English members were conjoined; and to the
Council thus formed there was administered one of the elaborate oaths
which were then supposed to be peculiarly solemn and binding. They were
sworn on our Lord’s Body, the Holy Relics, and the Holy Evangels, to
give good and lawful advice for maintaining the peace of the king’s
dominions, especially in Scotland, and loyally to reveal any hindrances
they knew to good government in Scotland, and how these might be
overcome.
It is difficult to believe that the commissioners from Scotland were
free agents in this Parliament. But it suited the purposes of Edward
that the ordinance which was now to be framed for the future government
of Scotland should be promulgated as the result of deliberations in
which the people of Scotland had a voice. It was for this reason that
the Scotsmen had been summoned to Westminster; but the ordinance left
all real power in the hands of Edward. Sir John de Bretaigne, the king’s
nephew, became Warden of Scotland, with a Chancellor and Controller
under him.[3] Eight justiciars were appointed. Six of them were to
administer law in the lowlands; and the dangerous duty of executing
justice “beyond the mountains” was entrusted to Sir Reynaud le Chien and
Sir John de Vaux of Northumberland. Sheriffs were appointed, most of
whom were Scotsmen; but the castles were left in the hands of English
commanders. The laws of King David of Scotland were to be read at public
meetings in various places, and such of these laws as appeared unjust
were to be amended.[4]
About this time Edward writes to the Sheriff of York, giving orders that
nobles, prelates, and other people of Scotland journeying to and from
England, were, in future, to be courteously treated, and that anyone who
used threats or bad language to them, or who refused to sell them food,
was to be punished. Similar orders regarding the treatment of Scotsmen
in England were sent to the Sheriffs of London, and many of the English
counties. Edward perhaps thought that by this semblance of an union,
founded on conquest and set forth on parchment, his long-cherished
schemes were at last accomplished. But his plans had hardly been
completed, when he found himself confronted by that combination of the
Scottish people which, during the reign of his son, triumphed under the
leadership of Robert Bruce, and finally secured the complete
independence of Scotland on the field of Bannockburn.
The marriage of the Princess Margaret, daughter of Henry the Seventh, to
James the Fourth of Scotland, stanched for a time--but only for a
time--the torrent of blood which was shed in the wars which raged, one
after another, for nearly two hundred years after the death of Bruce.
Another period of warfare followed, during which the disasters of
Flodden Field and Solway Moss left Scotland apparently at the mercy of
England. But when Henry the Eighth attempted to reconcile and unite the
nations by a treaty of marriage between the Prince of Wales and Mary,
the youthful Queen of Scots, the Scottish Estates, while agreeing to his
proposal, declared that, after the marriage, Scotland was to remain a
separate and independent kingdom; and it was soon found that to
propitiate the Scottish nation was a task beyond even the long
experience and the profound diplomatic ability of Sadler. Sadler argued
that England had a young prince, and Scotland had a young princess, and
that if they were betrothed, “these two realms being knit and conjoined
in one, the subjects of the same, which have always been infested with
the wars, might live together in wealth and perpetual peace.” “I pray
you,” said a Scottish statesman in reply, “give me leave to ask you a
question: If your lad were a lass, and our lass were a lad, would you
then be so earnest in this matter? Could you be content that our lad
should marry your lass, and so be King of England?” And when Sadler
answered that he would, the Scotsman shook his head. “I cannot believe,”
he said, “that your nation could agree to have a Scot to be King of
England. And likewise I assure you that our nation, being a stout
nation, will never agree to have an Englishman to be King of Scotland.
And though the whole nobility of the realm would consent to it, yet our
common people, and the stones in the street, would rise and rebel
against it.”
Then, to enforce the treaty of marriage, came the invasion of Scotland,
when Edinburgh was burned to the ground, when the port of Leith and the
picturesque castles of Roslyn and Craigmillar were in flames, when the
abbeys of Melrose and Dryburgh were laid in ruins, and when the villages
and farms of the lowlands were devastated by the English soldiery. But
the violence of Henry was in vain; and during his reign the Scottish
people hated England as they had never hated her before.[5]
The project of uniting the kingdoms by a royal marriage was not
abandoned on the death of Henry; and in the first year of Edward the
Sixth, the battle of Pinkie, the last great battle between England and
Scotland, was fought. But the Protector Somerset soon found that the
Scots, though defeated, were as determined as ever to resist the English
connection, and that the Scottish Parliament had at last resolved that
their young queen should be betrothed to the Dauphin, and sent forthwith
to France, to be educated at the French Court. This resolution, so
fateful to Mary Stuart, then a child of only six, altered the views and
policy of Somerset. In the name of the English Council he issued a
remarkable proclamation, in which he proposed that the Crowns should be
united, and that the kingdoms should become one. “We invite you,” it was
said, “to amity and equality, because, as we inhabit in the same island,
there is no people so like one another in manners, customs, and
language.” There was to be freedom and equality of trade between England
and Scotland. The subjects of both kingdoms were to be allowed to
intermarry. If the Scots wished it, the name of England would be
abolished, and “the indifferent old name of Britains” taken again. “If
we two,” the proclamation declared, “being made one by amity, be most
able to defend us against all nations; and, having the sea for the wall,
mutual love for garrison, and God for defence, should make so noble and
well-agreeing a monarchy, that neither in peace we may be ashamed, nor
in war afraid of any worldly or foreign power; why should not you be as
desirous of the same, and have as much cause to rejoice at it as we?”[6]
But these overtures were too late; the Queen of Scots was sent to
France: and when, two years later, peace was proclaimed, Scotland
remained unconquered and independent.
The treaty of peace declared that the boundaries of the two countries
were to be the same as they had been before the outbreak of war between
Henry the Eighth and James the Fifth of Scotland. An attempt was made to
deal with that portion of waste land upon the western borders which had
been, for so long, a harbour of refuge for the outlaws of both kingdoms,
and which was known as the Debateable Ground.[7] It was to be divided by
march stones; and ditches and enclosures were to be made for the purpose
of hindering the flight of marauders. The English were to relinquish all
lands and houses which they had seized; and those fishings on the river
Tweed which the Scots had possessed before the war were to be given back
to them.[8]
Never in the history of this island, except afterwards during the reign
of Anne, was the Scottish question so troublesome to England as during
the second half of the sixteenth century. The immense additions which,
of late years, have been made to our sources of information have not
changed, to any great extent, the aspect of the long familiar picture,
nor caused us to relinquish the old opinions regarding the characters
and motives of those who held in their hands the tangled threads of
international policy during the fifty years which preceded the Union of
the Crowns. To use the Scots for the purpose of weakening England had
long been the policy of France; and when war between Spain and France
broke out in 1555, and an English army was to be sent to the assistance
of Spain, the French Court hoped that an army from Scotland would march
across the Tweed. Mary of Guise assembled the Scottish nobles, and
proposed that they should seize the opportunity of taking vengeance for
all the wrongs which their country had suffered since the fatal day of
Flodden. But the proposals of the Queen Regent were not received with
favour. She had been so foolish as to confer several important offices
of State on Frenchmen; and these appointments had given great offence.
During the late war the Scots had resented the manner in which their
allies had behaved on several occasions, and had seen them depart with
feelings of intense relief.[9] Moreover, the spread of the Protestant
opinions in Scotland had naturally led many of the people to suspect the
motives of a Catholic power. The Queen Regent, indeed, succeeded in
bringing England and Scotland to the verge of another contest; but, in
the long-run, the Scots refused to encounter the risks of war for the
purpose of assisting the ambition of France.
The marriage of Mary and the Dauphin involved the renewal of friendly
intercourse with France; but the terms on which the Scottish Parliament
agreed to this alliance provided for the complete independence of
Scotland.[10] The crown matrimonial of Scotland was conferred upon the
Dauphin; but the oath of fidelity which the Scottish ambassadors took to
the heir of France, as King of Scotland, was framed so as to exclude
any allegiance beyond that which the subjects of Scotland had hitherto
acknowledged as due to their native princes.[11]
It had never been possible for England, under any circumstances, to be
indifferent to the affairs of Scotland; and the relations of the two
kingdoms were now more complicated than ever. But it was not until after
the death of Mary of England that the results of the French marriage
became fully visible. “War with France; the French king bestriding the
realm, having one foot in Calais and the other in Scotland; steadfast
enemies, but no steadfast friends.”[12] Thus stood England at the close
of the year 1558. The Dauphin and Mary proclaimed themselves King and
Queen of England as well as Scotland; and the arms of England were
quartered with the arms of France and Scotland on their plate and
household furniture. This was an open assertion of the illegitimacy of
Elizabeth and a challenge to England. But, in the meantime, peace was
preserved. The Treaty of Cambray, which terminated the struggle between
France and Spain, and to which England and Scotland were parties, left
the claims of Elizabeth and Mary untouched; and, on the ground that “the
plenipotentiaries for Scotland have not sufficient knowledge of the
state of affairs depending between the Crowns of England and Scotland,”
it was decided that English and Scottish commissioners should afterwards
meet and decide on “certain articles respecting the peace and concord of
the two kingdoms.”[13]
These commissioners met; and the result was the treaty of
Upsetlington.[14] A fresh attempt was made to frame rules for curbing
the lawless spirit of the Borderers; and it was also agreed that the
limits of the two kingdoms should be the same as they had been before
the accession of Elizabeth, that the town of Berwick should not be
molested by the Scots, that the English garrisons should not trouble
their neighbours on the other side of the boundary line, and that great
caution should be observed in granting passports to the subjects of
either kingdom.[15]
Meanwhile the Protestant opinions had been steadily gaining ground in
Scotland. The Congregation, as the reformers were called, and their
leaders, known as the Lords of the Congregation, had hitherto been on
good terms with Mary of Guise. Without their assistance the Dauphin
would not have obtained the title of King of Scotland; and she had,
therefore, not interfered with the progress of the new beliefs. But soon
after the Treaty of Cambray, Monsieur de Bettancourt arrived in
Edinburgh, charged with a message from Henry of France. The New Learning
was to be suppressed on the continent of Europe and in England; and the
Queen Regent was expected to join France, Spain, and the Holy Father at
Rome, in the league which they had formed for that purpose. Scotland was
the stepping-stone to England. If the ascendency of France and the
Catholic Faith was once secured in that country, the heretic Elizabeth
would be driven from the throne which she had usurped. Therefore the
Regent must no longer remain inactive. Against her will, so far as we
can judge, Mary of Guise entered on the disastrous contest. A
proclamation was issued, commanding all men to go to mass, to use the
confessional, and to conform, in all respects, to the Church of Rome.
The Lords of the Congregation remonstrated; but the Regent refused to
give way.[16] At this crisis Knox returned to Scotland from Geneva. A
week after his arrival he preached at Perth; and after his sermon the
religious houses of the Black and Grey Friars, and the Carthusian
Monastery, were laid in ruins. From Perth the excitement spread over all
the country. The Protestants flew to arms in numbers. The Regent
mustered her forces, and it was evident that a desperate struggle was at
hand.
At first the Lords of the Congregation carried everything before them.
But they knew that, before long, the Regent would have an army of
well-trained French soldiers under her command; and it was vain to
suppose that religious fervour could prevail against military
discipline. Help must be found in some quarter; and a correspondence was
opened with the Court of England. James, third Earl of Arran, was, after
his father, the Duke of Chatelherault, heir-presumptive to the throne of
Scotland.[17] A marriage between him and Elizabeth might, it was
suggested, settle the Scottish question. A majority of the Scots were
Protestant; and in the turmoil of the civil war which had now begun,
Mary of Scotland might, with the help of England, be dethroned by her
own subjects, against whom she had allowed a foreign army to be sent. If
Arran and Elizabeth were married, the Crowns of England and Scotland
would then be united; and thus the schemes of France would be
frustrated. There can be little doubt that all this was understood
between the Congregation and their friends in England, though it was not
openly expressed. Cecil encouraged the idea, probably with the assent of
Elizabeth; and the Lords of the Congregation implored her to come to the
rescue, and carry out that union of the realms for which so many wise
men had long laboured in vain.[18]
The death of Henry the Second did not change the policy of France.
Scotland was to be subdued; and then Elizabeth could be dealt with. The
councils of England were divided; but Cecil was in favour of sending
help to Scotland. “The best worldly felicity,” he said, “that Scotland
can have is either to continue in a perpetual peace with the kingdom of
England, or to be made one monarchy with England, as they both make but
one isle divided from the rest of the world.” But this was impossible if
the French were allowed to govern Scotland; for they would use Scotland
for their own purposes, and “make a footstool thereof to look over
England as they may.” As no heir had been born to the Queen of Scots,
and as she was absent from her kingdom, the nobles and commons of
Scotland ought, under the guidance of the Hamiltons, who were the next
heirs to the Crown, to free the land of idolatry by such a Reformation
as had already taken place in England; and, “before the French grew too
strong and insolent,” a number of abuses which threatened to ruin the
country should be remedied. If the Queen did not agree to these reforms,
then she must be held to have forfeited the Crown.[19]
As to the question, which was really the practical one, of whether
England should join Scotland in resisting the French, the voice of Cecil
gave no uncertain sound. Every country had, he said, like every man, the
right and duty of self-defence, not only against present danger, but
also against danger which might be foreseen. No greater danger could be
foreseen than the occupation of Scotland by France, the implacable
enemy of England. Therefore “England both may and ought to aid Scotland
to keep out the French.”[20]
Such was the advice of Cecil, set forth in a paper written apparently on
the 5th of August. Three days later Sadler was on his way to Berwick,
armed with full powers to negotiate secretly “for the union of the
realms,” and furnished with a sum of money for the use of the
Congregation. Arran, who had escaped from France and come to England,
followed him. A long time was wasted in correspondence between Berwick
and London; and at last Chatelherault and the Lords of the
Congregation, weary of the long delay, marched to Edinburgh at the head
of their followers. The Queen Regent took shelter behind the walls of
Leith. An instrument suspending her from the Regency was proclaimed at
the town-cross of Edinburgh; and a letter was sent to her demanding that
she and the French troops should retire from Leith. But, instead of
doing so, she attacked the forces of the Congregation. They were
compelled to leave Edinburgh; and it thus became evident that, as the
Regent could already cope with the Congregation, Scotland would be at
the mercy of the French army, which might arrive at any moment.
At this point, when the fate of Scotland was trembling in the balance,
Maitland of Lethington was sent to London to make a final appeal to the
English Council. A paper has been preserved which expresses, with all
the acuteness of that adroit politician, the views of Maitland on the
relations of England and Scotland. The old cause of enmity, he says,
between England and Scotland, and of the friendship between France and
Scotland, was the claim of feudal superiority which the princes of
England had set up. To resist that claim, and to save their country from
conquest, the Scots formed alliances with France. From the first, many
in Scotland doubted the wisdom of these alliances; and now the eyes of
all were opened. They saw the inordinate ambition of France, and wished
to form a league with England.[21] The fear of conquest made the Scots
hate England and love France. Now the case is changed; “Shall we not
hate them and favour you?” If we have been so faithful to France, from
whom we have received so little, can you not trust us to be faithful to
you, who of all nations are most able to bestow benefits upon us?
But it may be said that as soon as the present quarrel is ended, we
shall once more make friends with France. Peace is, indeed, the end of
war; but England may rest assured that we in Scotland know our own
interests too well to make such a mistake. Where could we look for help
against France, at any future time, if we played false with you?[22]
Besides, it is the interest of England to unite with us. France is not
making all these warlike preparations merely for an expedition to
Scotland. All Europe knows that an invasion of England is intended. Have
you forgotten Calais? You are blind if you do not see that they are
acting as cunningly as they acted then. Beware lest you find yourselves
saying, when it is all too late, “If we had only known.”[23] Do not let
this opportunity escape you. If you once allow the French to become
masters of Scotland, is there a man whose judgment is so much at fault
as not to show him that France, having once conceived the image of so
great a conquest as that of England, will endeavour to accomplish it?
Nor must you believe those who call us rebels. We maintain the queen’s
right. We study to preserve the liberty of her realm at the hazard of
our lives. If, during the absence and minority of our sovereign, we
tamely allow strangers to plant themselves in our strongholds, to seize
the reins of government, and alter our laws at their pleasure, may she
not hereafter call us to account, and may not the people esteem the
nobles of Scotland unworthy of the place of councillors? All we desire
is to defend the freedom of our country and the independence of the
Crown.[24]
Finally, do not lightly reject the friendship of Scotland. England is
separated from every other nation by the sea; and if she unites with
Scotland, her defences will be complete. Study the advice which
Demosthenes gave to the Athenians, and you will learn what a wise man
should do when his neighbour’s house is on fire.[25]
It was to press these views upon the statesmen of England that Maitland
had been sent to London; and he was empowered to make an offer which
shows that the Lords of the Congregation were in deadly earnest. Let
everything, they said, which is past and gone be forgotten--Edward the
First and Wallace, Bruce and Bannockburn, Flodden and Pinkie, all the
long roll of victories and defeats on one side or another; let the words
England and Scotland be obliterated; and let the two nations become one
under the name of Great Britain, with Elizabeth as ruler of the United
Kingdoms. It is impossible to say what would have followed if the
English Council had entertained this proposal. But it implied war with
France, not only on the Scottish border, but at every vulnerable point
upon the coast of England. Even on the question of sending troops to
Scotland, Elizabeth hesitated for a long time. But at last Cecil
persuaded her to make up her mind. A fleet, under the command of Winter,
sailed for the Firth of Forth; and an army of eight thousand men, under
the command of Lord Grey, Warden of the Eastern Marches, was mustered at
Berwick.
Then, after all these months of irresolution, the effect of a firm
policy was seen. The French ambassador at London apologised for the
conduct of Mary and the Dauphin in assuming the arms of England, and
threw the blame upon the late king; and an offer was made to restore
Calais if England would refrain from interfering in Scotland. But to
this offer Elizabeth is said to have returned the haughty answer that
“she did not value that fisher town so much as to hazard for it the
state of Britain.”[26]
And now, for the first time, English soldiers were to enter Scotland as
friends. But before the decisive movement was made, Norfolk, Lieutenant
of the North of England, went to Berwick and made a convention with the
Lords of the Congregation. Scotland was put under the protection of
Elizabeth during the subsistence of the marriage of the Queen of Scots
and the King of France. For the preservation of the liberties of
Scotland, and to expel the French, an English army was to cross the
border.[27] England became bound never to permit Scotland to be
conquered, or united to France, otherwise than it already was by the
marriage of Mary and Francis. Scotland became bound to send an army of
four thousand men to assist England, if, at any time, she was invaded
by France. Argyll, as Lord Justice of Scotland, was, if required by the
Queen of England, to act with the Lord Lieutenant in reducing the north
of Ireland to obedience. England was to receive hostages for the due
performance of these stipulations on the part of Scotland.[28]
The Treaty of Berwick was signed on the 27th of February; but so
unwilling was Elizabeth to take the final step that nearly a month had
passed away before the troops were allowed to advance. At the end of the
month the greater portion of the army crossed the Tweed.[29] They were
well received by the country people; and on the 4th of April the English
and Scottish leaders held a council of war at Pinkie House. In the
operations of the next three months everything centred round the siege
of Leith. In spite of the gallantry of the French, the garrison was
reduced to desperate straits. The French fleet, with reinforcements on
board, was scattered by a storm. The Queen Regent died during the night
of the 10th of June 1560; and four days later the preliminary articles
of a treaty were signed at Berwick.[30]
Peace was finally concluded at Edinburgh on the 6th of July. Mary and
the Dauphin were to give up using the arms or the royal title of
England. The fortifications of Leith were to be demolished. All the
French soldiers, except one hundred and twenty men, were to leave
Scotland at once. The affairs of Scotland were to be administered
entirely by Scotsmen; and the executive government was, during the
absence of Mary, to consist of twelve persons, of whom the queen was to
choose seven from a list of names drawn up by the Estates. On the
question of religion, it was agreed that when the Scottish Parliament
next met, a deputation should be sent to France to lay the wishes of the
country before the queen.[31]
These events not only proved that England was strong enough to set the
arms of France at defiance, and to reject the councils of Spain, but
they established, for all time to come, a close and real connection
between England and Scotland. In the hour of danger the best men in
Scotland had turned to England for help. Cecil, and those who thought
with him, had persuaded Elizabeth to disregard all interference and the
remonstrances of foreign Courts. She had done so with reluctance. Slowly
and through many a tortuous path she had sent help to Scotland; but, in
the end, the deliverance was complete. The war and the treaty of July
1560 destroyed the French influence in the northern portion of the
island, taught the Scots that it was only by an Union with Protestant
England instead of Catholic France that their liberties could be
maintained, and opened the way for the Scottish Reformation. For the
Lords of the Congregation were now supreme; and before the end of
August, without waiting for the queen’s consent, the Estates had met and
passed the statute by which they disowned the authority of the Pope.[32]
But although so much had been done, the marriage of Elizabeth and Arran
was as far off as ever. In their policy of binding the nations together
by a closer tie, Cecil in England and Maitland in Scotland had a great
mass of public opinion to support them, especially on the Protestant
side.[33] The Scottish Estates were so eager for the Union of the Crowns
that they would not listen to Maitland, who, though strongly in favour
of the marriage, foresaw difficulties which could be only overcome by
waiting; and it was resolved that commissioners should at once be sent
to lay the wishes of the Estates before Elizabeth.[34]
If Mary of Scotland died without issue, Arran was, after his father, the
next heir to the Crown; but it can scarcely be doubted that the Lords of
the Congregation did not contemplate waiting for the extinction of the
Stuart line. Mary had not been in Scotland since her childhood. She was
Queen of France; and, in all probability, she would remain in France for
the rest of her life. So long as Mary of Guise was Regent, so long as
Frenchmen governed Scotland, so long as Scotland, like France, adhered
to the Catholic Faith, the power of the house of Stuart was hardly, if
at all, impaired by the absence of the queen. But now all this was at an
end. Mary of Guise was dead. An English army had expelled the soldiers
of France. The government of Scotland was in the hands of Scotsmen. The
Scottish nation was no longer Catholic. To celebrate the mass was an
offence against the law; and the Scottish clergy were using the
Prayer-book of Edward the Sixth. Thus it was a mere form of words to
call Mary Stuart Queen of Scotland as well as of France. Of real power
she no longer possessed a vestige; and it is easy to see that in the
first bloom of the Scottish Reformation, with Knox in full vigour, and
with the whole country in revolt against the Romish priesthood, the
marriage of Arran would very likely have been followed by the triumph of
the Protestant Hamiltons over the Catholic Stuarts, and the union of
the two nations, with one crown, and probably with one form of Church
government.
Perhaps in the history of great events we too seldom remember that kings
and queens are, after all, merely men and women. Here was a crisis at
which the Protestants of England and Scotland were unanimous in wishing
the Defender of their Faith to enter upon a contract, by means of which
she would accomplish what had been one of the great ends of English
policy from the days of Edward the First to those of Henry the Eighth.
But that contract was one which concerned her as a woman rather than as
a queen; and she knew that the ceremony which might put the Crown of
Scotland within reach of the Queen of England would, while uniting the
kingdoms, separate Elizabeth Tudor from Robert Dudley. The Protestants
of England knew this, and dread of the Dudley marriage, as well as their
anxiety to cement the alliance with Scotland, made them support the
pretensions of Arran.
But suddenly, before Elizabeth had made up her mind, the death of
Francis the Second saved her from the necessity of giving a definite
answer to the Scottish commissioners. This event, by which the Crowns of
France and Scotland were once more separated, opened a new scene in the
drama of international politics, and enabled her to escape from the
dilemma in which she found herself. She thanked the Scottish Estates for
the goodwill which they had displayed towards her; and she assured them
that she regarded the offer of marriage as a token of their wish “to
knit both theis kingdomes presently in Amytye, and hereafter to remaine
in a perpetual Amytye.” But in the meantime, though she had a high
opinion of the Lord Arran, she was not disposed to take a husband, and
she thought that the friendship of the nations could be maintained
without a marriage. With this unsatisfactory answer the commissioners
were obliged to be content.[35]
Then came the return of Mary to Scotland, her stubborn refusal to ratify
that clause of the Treaty of Edinburgh by which she was to give up
using the title of Queen of England, her quarrels with the reformers,
and the long series of misfortunes and misdeeds which ended only with
the tragedy of Fotheringay.
The failure of the marriage negotiations was taken as an insult by the
Scots; and doubtless this accounts, to some extent, for the cordial way
in which Mary, in spite of her adherence to the Church of Rome, was
welcomed on her return from France. The project of uniting the kingdoms
by a royal marriage was not again renewed in so definite a form; but
during the numerous intrigues spread over so many years, the purpose of
which was to find a husband for the Queen of Scots, the effect which her
marriage would have upon the relations of England and Scotland was never
lost sight of. If the suitor for her hand was a Protestant, he was
favoured by those who desired to see peace between the two nations; if
he was a Catholic, by those who desired a renewal of the French
alliance, or at least a rupture with England.[36] Protestant or
Catholic? that was the great question for England and Scotland then, as
for the rest of Europe. Everything turned upon that. During Mary’s short
sojourn at Holyrood, and during the long years of her captivity in
England, everything--conspiracies against Elizabeth; the rise and fall
of Regents in Scotland; the civil wars with all their treachery and
bloodshed; the assassinations; the beheadings--every episode and every
scheme, however disguised, was a part of the contest between the old
faith and the new.
During these years of trouble the Protestants of the two countries drew
gradually together; and in the year 1586 the kingdoms entered into a
compact which lasted until the death of Elizabeth and the accession of
James to the throne of England.
The Duke of Guise asked James of Scotland to join the Holy League. But
to this invitation he returned no answer; and Sir Edward Wotton, who was
sent as ambassador to the Court of Holyrood, found that James was ready
to form an alliance with Elizabeth and Henry of Navarre in defence of
the Protestant religion. A Scottish Parliament, which met at St. Andrews
in July 1585, authorised the king and his Council to enter upon a
league, more strict and firm than any previous league, between England
and Scotland, which, the Estates said, were naturally allies, and were
alike exposed to the assaults of the common enemy.[37] In the following
year commissioners for both kingdoms met, and signed the League. It was
agreed that the sovereigns of England and Scotland should defend the
Protestant religion against all comers. There was to be an alliance,
offensive and defensive, between the countries. If England was invaded
at a point at a distance from Scotland, an army of seven thousand
Scotsmen was to march to assist her. If Scotland was invaded at any
place distant from England, twelve thousand Englishmen were to help her.
If the invasion took place near the Borders, James was to send as many
troops as he could muster to the spot. If any trouble arose in Ireland,
none of the inhabitants of Scotland were to be permitted to go thither.
Neither kingdom was to shelter rebels fleeing across the Border. All
former treaties of friendship between the countries were to remain in
force; and James bound himself to see, when he reached the age of
twenty-five, that these terms were ratified by the Scottish
Parliament.[38]
Nothing was said about Mary of Scotland during these negotiations. She
was entirely ignored; and it is impossible to say how far this may have
helped to remove any scruples which she might have felt about the
objects of the Babington Conspiracy.[39] Her execution, however,
endangered the new alliance when it had existed for only nine months.
The Scottish clergy had, indeed, with scarcely an exception, refused to
pray for her; and if she had been tried and sentenced by the Privy
Council of Scotland or by the Scottish Parliament, the Catholic laity
alone would have attempted to save her. But the manner of her trial and
condemnation was regarded as a national affront; and when the Estates
met in July 1587 the peers offered to give their lives and fortunes to
avenge the fate of the Scottish queen, who, after eighteen years of
captivity in England, had perished at the hands of Englishmen. During
the autumn and winter the Borders were in a state of dangerous
excitement. An invasion from Scotland was expected. Preparations were
made for raising ten thousand men to repel it; and there appears to
have been some idea of rebuilding the old Roman wall.[40]
The indignation expressed by James at the treatment which his mother had
received was doubtless not altogether feigned. But the great aim of his
life now was to secure his own succession to the throne of England; and
Walsingham adroitly availed himself of this circumstance for the purpose
of preventing war. Sir John Maitland, a younger brother of Maitland of
Lethington, was the Scottish Secretary, and to him Walsingham wrote a
letter, which he knew would be read by James, and in which, with
consummate art, he proved that if the youthful King of Scots wished to
reach the object of his ambition, he must maintain his friendship with
England.[41]
The resentment of James died speedily away. On various occasions, during
the remainder of Elizabeth’s reign, the relations of the two countries
were strained, and there was bad blood between the sovereigns. But there
was no open rupture; and at last the house of Stuart entered peaceably,
and without opposition, on the rich heritage of the English Crown.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] “De Regnis Angliæ et Scotiæ conjunctis. Quia Regna Angliæ et Scotiæ,
ratione Superioris Dominii, quod in eodem Regno optinemus benedicto
altissimo, sunt conjuncta, Mandatum est Justiciariis de Banco, quod
Brevia Regis, coram eis porrecta vel retornata, de data dierum et
locorum, infra idem Regnum Scotiæ, mentionem facientia, de cætero
admittant; exceptiones, si quas, de hujusmodi datis et locis, proponi
contigerit coram eis, nullatenus allocantes, Teste Rege apud Berewicum
super Twedam, 3 die Julii.” (_Fœdera_, ii. 533.)
[2] These were the Bishops of St. Andrews and Dunkeld, the Abbots of
Cupar and Melrose, the Earls of Buchan and March, Sir John de Mowbray,
Sir Robert de Kethe, Sir Adam de Gurdon, and Sir John de Inchmartyn.
[3] The name, so hated in Scotland, of “Mons. Joh. de Meneteth” appears
as one of the Council appointed to assist John de Bretaigne.
[4] Ordonnance faite par Edouard Roi d’Angleterre sur le Gouvernement de
la terre d’Escosse, Act. Parl. Scot. i. 119; Sir Francis Palgrave’s
_Documents and Records illustrating the History of Scotland_, 292, 295;
_Calendar of Documents relating to Scotland_, ii. 457.
[5] Mr. Patrick Fraser Tytler very justly remarks how absurd was the
idea “that a free country was to be compelled into a pacific matrimonial
alliance, amid the groans of its dying citizens and the flames of its
seaports” (_History of Scotland_, vi. 42). See also, on the Scottish
policy of Henry VIII., the instructions given to the army in Scotland in
April 1544 (vol. v. p. 473, and the _Hamilton Papers_, vol. ii. p. 325).
They were to “burn Edinburgh town, and to rase and deface it when you
have sacked it”; and all over the country “man, woman, and child” were
to be put to the sword “without exception.”
[6] Holinshed, iii. 998.
[7] “Terra variabilis communi utriusque gentis vocabulo dicta The
Debateable Ground.”
[8] _Fœdera_, xv. 265.
[9] “Notwithstanding the ancient alliance of France and Scotland, and
the long intercourse of good offices between the two nations, an
aversion for the French took its rise, at this time, among the Scots;
the effects whereof were deeply felt, and operated powerfully through
the subsequent period” (Robertson, i. 110).
[10] The Queen of Scots was to “aggre and obleis hir self and hir
successouris, that scho, hir Airis and Successouris, sall observe and
keip the Fredomes, Liberteis, and Privelegeis of this Realme, and Lawis
of the samyn, sicklike and in the samyn maner as hes bene keipit and
observit in all Kingis Tymes of Scotland of before” (Keith, App. 14;
Act. Parl. Scot. ii. 504).
[11] “Le servir, obeyr et honnorer, durant et constant ledit mariage,
ensemble l’hoir issu et procréé d’iceluy mariage auquel adviendra le
Royaume d’Escosse, tout ainsy comme nous et nos Predecesseurs aut
loyauement servy et honnore les nobles progeniteurs et antecesseurs de
la ditte Dame Reyne d’Escosse nostre Souveraine” (Keith, App. 20). On
the occasion of the marriage, Henry of France issued letters of
naturalisation conferring all the privileges of French citizenship on
Scotsmen living in his dominions; and the Scottish Parliament returned
the compliment by passing an Act which naturalised Frenchmen in
Scotland. (Act. Parl. Scot. ii. 507, 515.)
[12] Address to the Council, in Mr. Froude’s _History of England_, vol.
vi. p. 111 (ed. 1870).
[13] The plenipotentiaries for Scotland at Cambray were the Cardinal of
Lorraine; the Duke of Montmorency; Jacques d’Albon, Marshal of France;
Morvillier, Bishop of Orleans; and Claude de l’Aubespine, Secretary of
State.
[14] “A pleasant country village on the north side of the river Tweed,
within the borders of Scotland, five miles west from Berwick” (Keith,
108).
[15] “This treaty was finished and drawn up at the Church of Our Lady of
Upsalinton the 31st of May (1559), and duplicates thereof were delivered
and exchanged in the Parish Church of Norham, just opposite, on the
English side of the Tweed, that same day” (_Ibid._).
[16] They told her, “That, by her tolerance, their religion had taken
such a root, and the number of the Protestants so increased, that it was
a vain hope to believe that they could be put from their religion,
seeing they were resolved as soon to part with their lives as to recant”
(_Sir James Melvil’s Memoirs_, p. 25).
[17] His father, the second Earl of Arran, and first Duke of
Chatelherault, was, it will be remembered, Regent of Scotland from the
death of James the Fifth, in 1542, until 1554, when he was succeeded by
Mary of Guise. He was a Lord of the Congregation.
[18] Mr. Froude’s _History of England_, vol. vi. pp. 236, 237: “You,”
said an emissary of the Congregation at Paris to Sir Nicholas
Throgmorton, “have a queen, and we our prince the Earl of Arran,
marriageable both, and chief upholders of God’s religion. This may be
the means to unite England and Scotland together, and there is no
foundation nor league durable nor available but in God’s cause.”
[19] “If the Queen shall be unwilling to this, as it is likely she will,
in respect of the greedy and tyrannous Affliction of France; then is it
apparent that Almighty God is pleased to transfer from her the Rule of
the Kingdom for the weal of it; and in this time great Circumspection is
to be used, to avoid the deceits and trumperies of the French. And then
may the Realm of Scotland consider, being once made free, what means may
be devised through God’s goodness to accord the two Realms, to endure
for time to come at the Pleasure of Almighty God, in whose Hands the
Hearts of all Princes be” (Memorial of Certain Points meet for the
Restoring of the Realm of Scotland to the Ancient Weale, written by my
Lord Treasurer, with his own Hand, 5 August 1559, Cotton MSS., Keith,
App. 23).
[20] A Short Discussion of the Weighty Matter of Scotland, August 1559.
Cotton MSS., Keith, App. 24.
[21] “But now hes God’s providence sa altered the case, zea, changed it
to the plat contrary, that now hes the Frensche taken zour place, and
we, off very jugement, becum disyrous to have zow in theyr rowme. Our
eyes are opened, we espy how uncareful they have been of our weile at
all tymes, how they made ws ever to serve theyr turne, drew ws in maist
dangerous weys for theyr commodite, and, nevertheless, wad not styck,
ofttymes, against the natowr of the ligue, to contrak peace, leaving ws
in weyr. We see that their support, off late zeres, wes not grantit for
any affection they bare to ws, for pytie they had of our estate, for
recompense of the lyke friendship schawin to theym in tyme of theyr
afflictiones, but for ambition, and insatiable cupidite to reygne, and
to mak Scotland ane accessory to the Crown of France.”
[22] “I wald ze should not esteme ws sa barayne of jugement, that we
cannot forese our awne perril; nor sa foolische, that we will not study
by all gude means to entertayne that thing may be our safetye; quhilk
consistes all in the relaying of zour friendships.”
[23] “Tak hede ze say not hereafter, ‘Had I wist’; ane uncomely sentence
to procede off a wyse man’s mouth.”
[24] “We seke nathing but that Scotland may remane, as of before, a fre
realme, rewlit by hir hyenes and hir ministeres borne men of the sam;
and that the succession of the Crowne may remane with the lawful blode.”
[25] Letter of Maitland of Lethington, “from the original in his own
hand” (Cotton MSS., Roberston, App. No. II.).
[26] Spotswood, 146. It is needless to say that though Elizabeth may
have used these words, she was bent on recovering Calais.
[27] “A Convenient Ayd of Men of Warre, on Horse and Foot, to joyne with
the power of the Scottishmen, with Artailzie Munition, and all others
Instrumentis of Warre mete for the Purpose, as weall by Sea as by Land.”
[28] Conventiones Scotorum contra Reginam Unionem Franciæ et Scotiæ
designantem, et pro defensione contra Francos (_Fœdera_, xv. 569).
Maitland of Lethington, in the letter in favour of an alliance between
England and Scotland, from which quotations have just been given,
proposes that Scotland should help to maintain order in Ireland. “The
realme of Ireland,” he says, “being of natour a gode and fertill
countrey, by reason of the continewalld unquietnes and lak of policy, ze
knaw to be rather a burthen to zow then great advantage; and giff it
were peaceable may be very commodious. For pacification quhayroff, it is
not unknown to zow quhat service we ar abill to do.”
[29] They numbered between seven and eight thousand men. The expedition
seems to have cost about £230,000 (_Calendar of State Papers, Foreign_,
1560, Preface, p. ix.).
[30] Keith, 131.
[31] _Fœdera_, xv. 593; Keith, 137.
[32] Act. Parl. Scot. ii. 534. The following memorandum, endorsed “the
manner how the Scottis be divided, 1560,” was recently found among the
MSS. at Longleat, and is now printed in the _Hamilton Papers_, vol. ii.
p. 748. “The names of all the noblemen temporall and spirituall of the
congregacion of Scotlande:--The Duke of Chateaurialt; the Erle of Arren
his sonne; the Lord James priour of St. Andros; the Erle of Arguile; the
Erle of Glencarne; the Erle of Rothos; the Erle of Sutherland; the Erle
of Mountithe; the Lorde Riven; the Lorde Boide; the Lorde Offoltrie; the
Master of Lindsoye; the Master of Maxwell. The lordes and noblemen
newters:--The Erle of Huntleye; the Erle of Catnes; the Erle of Athell;
the Erle Marshall; the Erle of Morton and Angus; the Erle of Arrell; the
Erle of Casiles; the Erle of Eglenton; the Erle of Mountroes; the Lord
Erskin; the Lord Dromond; the Lord Hume; the Lorde Rose; the Lorde
Krighton; the Lord Liveston; the Lord Somervall. Dowptfull to whether
parte they will incline. The lordes of the Quene’s partye:--The Erle of
Bodwell; the Lorde Seton; the Lorde Fleminge; the Lord Semple; the
Bishopp of St. Andros; the Priour of Collingham; the Abbot of Holly
Roode Howse; with all the bisshoppes and spiritualtye of the realme. The
Shires as they be dewided on the one parte and thother:--The Marshe,
Tividale, Annerdale, Lowden, Sterlingeshire, Galawaye, Caricke, Guile,
Cunningham, Cliddesdale; all these and the people therein are newters,
onles a certaine of every shire wich kepe themselfes close. Fife, Angus,
Arguile, Straterne, and the Mernes; most parte Protestantes. The northe
land hath promised to take parte, but not yet assured; in whose handes
standeth litell helpe, wich side so ever they fall into.” In Mr. Fraser
Tytler’s _History of Scotland_, vol. ix. p. 425, a paper is printed
entitled “The Present State of the Nobility in Scotland, 1st July 1592.”
It gives a list of the Scottish peers with a note of whether they were
Protestant or Catholic, and is well worth comparing with the list in the
_Hamilton Papers_. In the original, Mr. Tytler says, the names of the
Catholics are marked in Burleigh’s own handwriting.
[33] Mr. Froude quotes a letter from Jewel to Peter Martyr:--“It is of
the greatest moment that England and Scotland be united; and I trust
only those may not hinder it who wish well neither to them nor to us”
(_History of England_, vol. vi. p. 406).
[34] Act. Parl. Scot. ii. 605.
[35] The Queene’s Majestie’s Answere, declared to Her Counsell,
concerninge the Requests of the Lords of Scotlande (Keith, 156).
[36] This, however, does not altogether apply to the Darnley marriage.
Darnley, as grandson of Margaret Tudor, was not only cousin to the Queen
of Scots, but first prince of the blood in England; and Mary’s great
object in espousing him was to improve her chance of succeeding to the
Crown of England, to which she was already heir-presumptive. But in
Scotland the marriage of the queen to a Catholic could not be viewed
with indifference; and the General Assembly of the Church proceeded to
declare that the laws against papacy applied to the royal family as well
as to the subjects: “That the Papisticall and blasphemous masse, with
all Papistrie and idolatrie of Paip’s jurisdictione, be universallie
suppressed and abolished throughout the haill realme, not only in the
subjects, but also in the Q. Majestie’s awn persone” (_The Booke of the
Universall Kirk of Scotland_, p. 28).
[37] “Naturallie jonit be blude and habitatioun, of ane relligioun and
thairby alike subiect to the malice of the commoun enemy, be quhais
Vnioun na les suretie may be expectit to baith thair esteattis then
dangear be thair divisioun” (_Band anent the Trew Religioun_, 31st July
1585; Act. Parl. Scot. iii. 423).
[38] Tractatus Fœderis et Arctioris Amititiæ, 5th July 1586 (_Fœdera_,
xv. 803).
[39] Mr. Tytler’s view is that one of the chief objects of Elizabeth and
the English ministers in entering into the League was to make it easier
to deal with the Queen of Scots. “Two months before,” he says, “her
indefatigable minister, Walsingham, had detected that famous conspiracy
known by the name of ‘Babington’s Plot,’ in which Mary was implicated,
and for which she afterwards suffered. It had been resolved by
Leicester, Burghley, and Walsingham, and probably by the queen herself,
that this should be the last plot of the Scottish queen and the Roman
Catholic faction; that the time had come when sufferance was criminal
and weak; that the life of the unfortunate, but still active and
formidable, captive was inconsistent with Elizabeth’s safety and the
liberty of the realm. Hence the importance attached to this League,
which bound the two kingdoms together, in a treaty offensive and
defensive, for the protection of the Protestant faith, and separated the
young king from his mother” (_History of Scotland_, viii. 288).
[40] _Calendar of Border Papers_, i. 289, 300.
[41] This letter, which is very long, will be found in Spotswood, p.
359. “Because,” the bishop says, “the Letter contained the very true
reasons that in end moved his Majesty to forbear violence and take a
more calm course, I thought meet to set it down word by word, as it
standeth in the original.”