tory of Scotland. Through all its passionate and bloody restlessness the country was advancing in wealth and strength, and taking a place for itself among European powers. It is over the personal history of the kings themselves that there hangs a gloom. Not one of them had lived to pay the simple debt of human life to the natural laws of vitality. Battle and murder and sudden death had swept away four of them: the fifth died of a spirit broken down by the weight of calamities. 188 CHAPTER XXXIV. REGENCY OF ARRAN. THE CONDITION OF THE COUNTRY-THE INFANT QUEEN-THE REGENT ARRAN AND CARDINAL BEATON-THE QUEEN-MOTHER, MARY OF LORRAINE-THE DETERMINATION OF HENRY VIII. TO MARRY THE QUEEN TO HIS SON-HIS THREATS-ANGUS AND THE CAPTIVES AT SOLWAY MOSS HOW THEY BECAME " ASSURED TO SERVE KING HENRY-SIR RALPH SADLER RETURNS-FINDS THE PEOPLE DETERMINED AGAINST ENGLISH INTERFERENCE-"THE ASSURED LORDS WILL GET NO OBEDIENCE FROM THEIR OWN RETAINERS -THE OFFERS TO ARRAN-CARDINAL BEATON'S IMPRISONMENT-TREATIES FOR THE MARRIAGE-THE CUSTODY OF "THE CHILD"-NATIONAL SUSPICIONS SEIZURE BY HENRY OF SCOTS VESSELS-NATIONAL OPPOSITION TO A TREATY-POSITION OF DOUGLAS AND THE LORDS ASSURED TO HENRY. AGAIN came the fatal conjunction of thirty years earlier— the death of a king, and a disastrous battle. Of those thirty years, for scarcely ten was the sovereign a man of adult age; and now the country was to be ruled in the name of an infant seven days old. The disaster of Solway Moss was, however, of smaller account than that of Flodden. The country had not lost a generation of its leading men, and was sound at heart. The firmness of its constitution was at once shown by the machinery of government going straight on, without check or tremor, in the name of the infant. In her there was, again, a symbol of authority to be scrambled and fought for; but matters went more decorously than in former minorities. It was not by barefaced acts of the character of theft or robbery that possession of the queen and the supreme power was obtained. It was said, indeed, that there was an attempt to procure the desirable acquisition by a forgery. Arran told Sir Ralph Sadler that Beaton claimed the custody of the royal infant as bequeathed to him by the late king, and produced a written testament under his signature, which, as Arran believed, was either absolutely forged or obtained by fraud.1 Even had it been genuine, however, it would have told for nothing against the will of the Estates, who let the Earl of Arran step into the regency as his hereditary right. Now that Albany was dead without issue, Arran, as head of the house of Hamilton, was next heir to the throne in the manner already mentioned.2 The infant remained at Linlithgow, where she was born, in charge of her mother, aided by a council. This division of charges followed a rule in the Scots law of private property. The estates of a minor are managed by the nearest relation on the father's side, who is, or may become, the minor's heir. This person has thus the chief interest to preserve the estate. În the matter of the preservation of its owner, however, his interests are supposed to be adverse; and therefore the custody is given to the mother, or the nearest relation on her side. The Earl of Arran, who was now to be chief ruler, was a good, easy, pleasant man, notorious for fickleness. So early as the year 1525, the English emissary, Magnus, describes him as (6 strong of men and of good substance in goods, and liveth in order and policy, as is said, above all other here, most like to the English manner; he is noticed some deal variant." 3 Eighteen years later, Sir Ralph Sadler said he was spoken of by the nobles as a very gentle creature, and a simple man, easily to be ruled."4 And Mary of Guise, a very competent judge, said of him, "He is assuredly a simple and the most inconstant man 1 "He did counterfeit,' quoth he, 'the late king's testament; and when the king was almost dead,' quoth he, 'he took his hand in his, and so caused him to subscribe a blank paper.' Sadler State Papers, i. 138. 2 See chapter xxix. 3 State Papers (Henry VIII.), iv. 289. 4 Sadler State Papers, i. 75. in the world; for whatsoever he determineth to-day he changeth to-morrow." 1 King Henry, when he heard of the events in Scotland, seems to have instantly leaped to the conclusion that he should have the infant queen as a wife for his son Edward. He had then in his possession Angus and the prisoners taken at Solway. By his peculiar method of rapid reasoning, he concluded that these men might be made admirable agents for accomplishing his plan. Angus had ever pleaded that the true way to have good service of him was to get him restored to his position in Scotland. On the occasion of King James's marriage-trip, he pressed that the English ambassadors in France should get the king to intercede with his son-in-law for the restoration. They were to represent that Angus was an ill-used man-the victim of malicious tongues, who had "never offended" against his country; and in the letter in which he desires his conduct to his country to be so represented he says, "If we were at home in our country, we might do the king's grace better service than we do here, and without charges; where now we put his grace to great charges, and may do him but small service." 2 Immediately after the death of King James, Angus was sent back to Scotland. His forfeiture was reversed by Parliament, a testimony not so much of the willingness of the Estates to aid Henry, as of their sense that their late king had been harsh and vindictive. Along with Angus came his brother, Sir George, and the Lords Cassilis, Glencairn, Fleming, Maxwell, Somerville, and Oliphant. These had come under obligations to do their utmost for the designs of Henry-to get the infant queen and the fortresses of the country placed in his hands. Each of them was required to send a son or other near relation to the English Court, as a hostage for his fidelity. Henry still retained a large body of the captives taken at Flodden, and it were pleasant could it be recorded that if he tampered with these others he failed to gain them; but we 1 Sadler State Papers, i. 115. 2 State Papers (Henry VIII.), v. 61. have only the neutral evidence in their favour that they were not bought. Of those who were, it is but a questionable apology to say they had made a bargain which they knew they could not fulfil. For Angus, the great leader of their offences, there is more to be said than for the others. He took up the position rather of an independent power than of a subject. His actions were not to be dictated by duty as a common citizen, but by diplomacy as a power. A crooked diplomacy, no doubt, it was; but, in dealing with a bargainer like Henry VIII., there was little encouragement for honesty. He had but Early in 1543, Sir Ralph Sadler was sent to Scotland to see what speed these emissaries had made. a poor account to render. Lord Lisle had questioned a sagacious Scots priest about the prospects of Angus on his return. "He said that all Scottishmen do say that if he will come home and take their part against England, he shall have all his houses and lands restored to him; and unless he will not so promise and be bound, he saith that all the country would be against him.”1 As Sadler by degrees discovered, this was a result which worked itself out naturally, without any obligations or promises. It was now fifteen years since Angus had been in Scotland at the head of his vassals. They fought for him willingly against his master, the King of Scots. If, in contradiction to the tenor of all Scots history, he could ever have got them to fight for England, the feudal hold that could have produced such a phenomenon was now loosened. When Sadler asked him what he was doing, he admitted that as yet it was nothing. "I am not," he said, "fully established here. I am but newly restored to my possessions, trusting to be every day more and more able to serve his majesty, as I shall ever be a true Englishman, and faithfully serve the king's majesty while I live, to the utmost of my power." Angus was in a different position from his associates. He was known as a friend of England, and distrusted, until he should show by positive acts that he "2 1 State Papers (Henry VIII.), v. 238, 239. |