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broken in pieces, the token of a shattered dynasty, and of the dominion of a foreign king. Next day Baliol swore fealty to Edward as his Lord Paramount and Superior. On St. Andrew's Day, he was crowned at Scone; and finally on St. Stephen's Day he did homage to Edward for his kingdom of Scotland at Newcastle-upon-Tyne. But John Baliol was not to enjoy in peace and prosperity the throne which he had seated himself on by selling the liberties of his country. Before long he became involved in disagreements with his Lord Paramount, and it was his Lord Paramount's interest and intention that he should quarrel with him and offend him, and as thoroughly as possible mismanage the government of the kingdom committed to his charge. The quarrelling was interrupted in 1294, when Edward had to suspend measures against his vassal-king, that he might gather up all his strength to make war with France. The favourable moment which those Scots who believed in the national independence were desiring had now arrived, and the time to act boldly was at hand. Edward was safely out of the way, and his terrible legions with him, when a parliament assembled at Scone; and, as a preliminary step, it was agreed to shut up Baliol, to keep him out of mischief; to dismiss the Englishmen who were filling the offices of State; and to place the government in the protection of twelve competent nobles. The Scottish estates in the hands of English barons were forfeited, and all Scottish nobles who adhered to Edward had their lands seized and forfeited. A little later, in 1295, measures of lasting importance were taken, and the first substantial beginning was made of that alliance between France and Scotland, which placed the two nations during the coming centuries on the most pacific and sisterly terms; whilst, at the same time, it helped to increase a bitter alienation which had sprung up in Scotland against the English. This alienation was of very recent growth.

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From the time of Margaret and Canmore, intermarriages and all sorts of friendly communications had made an essential union between the English and the Scots, notwithstanding those disagreements which are unfortunately common between near neighbours. But that union was rudely broken by the pretensions of the First Edward; the feeling of hatred grew stronger after every bloody battle, till it was finally lashed into furious loathing, and its traces are not obliterated even at the present time. France and Scotland united in a common cause. A league was entered into between John, King of Scotland, and Philip, King of France, against England; and a matrimonial engagement was effected between Edward, Baliol's eldest son, and Philip's niece, the daughter of the Count of Anjou. In terms of this bold treaty, in March of the following year the Scots sent armies to pillage, and waste, and slay, and devour, and carry on an inglorious campaign after their own hearts on the borders; and meanwhile their great enemy was marching down upon them to punish their audacious rebellion with a well-ordered host of thirty-five thousand men. Advancing to Berwick, he took the town, and then he hewed down the inhabitants, in all seventeen thousand persons, who fell like the leaves in autumn, whilst rivers of blood ran through the streets. This work was just finished when King John's written renunciation of allegiance was handed into his sovereign Lord by the Abbot of Arbroath. He received it with withering contempt. "The foolish traitor, what folly! If he won't come to us, we must go to him.' And he went, carrying all before him in his conquering march. Dunbar, Roxburgh, Edinburgh, Dumbarton, Jedburgh, Stirling, Perth, one stronghold after another, was either taken by storm or surrendered after a vain resistance. At Brechin or Montrose he paused, and there, early in July, decorated his triumphs by witnessing the feudal penance of

John Baliol. The unfortunate king was stript of his regal robes, the crown and sceptre were taken from him, a white rod was placed in his hand, and he then made a public confession of his misdemeanours against his liege lord, acknowledging that by hearkening to evil advice and through his own simplicity he had committed them.1 Hitherto Edward had sagaciously concealed his secret purpose in regard to Scotland, which was obviously to annex it to England, and to govern the two nations himself as one kingdom. In an unguarded moment he betrayed himself. Having flattered Robert Bruce, the son of the competitor, that he would place him on the throne instead of Baliol, it was about this time that the Lord of Annandale reminded

him of his promise. 'Have I no other business but to conquer kingdoms for you?' was the answer he got.

It was not only in subduing the country by force of arms that Edward confirmed his position. He spared himself no pains in putting the finer finishing touches to his conquest by stamping out sedulously every lingering relic that might serve to remind a Scotchman of old independence, and of the crown and court of his country. He tore away all that could practicably be removed: the Stone of Destiny 2 whereon the Scottish monarchs were believed to have received coronation since the days of St. Columba, 'Ni fallat fatum Scoti, quocunque locatum invenient lapidem regnare tenentur ibidem,' and the Black Rood of Scotland, which had comforted the dying hours of St. Margaret and St. David. He also ransacked the royal palaces, and stole the jewels and plate and when at Scone he mutilated the ancient

1 Baliol, after a mild captivity, was suffered to retire quietly to his estates of Bailleul in France, where he died in 1314.

2 The Stone of Destiny is now under the seat of the Coronation Throne in Westminster.

chartularies of the Abbey, carried off charters, or tore them up, and broke in pieces venerated seals.

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In his arrangements for the government of his new dominions, Edward acted with justice, by restoring the estates of the clergy and of the widows of the barons who had been in arms against him. He appointed John de Warenne, Earl of Surrey, Governor of the country, Hugh de Cressingham Treasurer, and William Ormesby Justiciary; and 'having thus,' says one of our historians, 'settled all things in a state of seeming tranquillity, he departed with the glory due to the conqueror of a free people." Throughout his progress he had obtained personal homage at the point of the sword; and on his way home he stopped at Berwick to hold a parliament for the purpose of receiving the fealty of the clergy and laity of Scotland. The oaths of homages which he then obtained are called 'The Ragman Rolls,' and still exist on thirty-five skins of parchment amongst the English archives. Among those who yielded him formal submission was Robert Bruce the younger, afterwards King Robert 1.

The three men who had been selected to govern Scotland were singularly unfitted for their perilous task. Instead of a gracious and winning policy, they employed tyrannical measures in the enforcement of taxes, and these, in addition to the late war, soon reduced the poor country to the most sad and suffering state. It was when matters were at their worst that William Wallace appears. He was the truest patriot that Scotland ever had, for his intentions were the purest and most unselfish. He did not fight that a crown might be placed on his own head, but he fought for his dear country in the name of King John. He was the second son of Sir Malcolm Wallace of Ellerslie, a knight of ancient

1 Hailes, vol. i. p. 298.

family, but small estate, in Renfrewshire. He had grown up with an instinctive hatred for the English, which was fostered by his uncle, a priest, who was perpetually bewailing the vanished freedom of his unhappy land. Certain private quarrels with Englishmen helped to stir up this hatred, and gathering round him a band of desperate men, they began by trying their skill in skirmishes with their enemies. Their numbers rapidly increased, and they were joined by John Comyn of Badenoch the younger, Sir John Stewart, Sir John Graham of Abercorn, Macduff, the granduncle of the young Earl of Fife, Wishart, Bishop of Glasgow, Sir Andrew Moray of Bothwell, Sir William Douglas, the Lord of Douglasdale, and the young Bruce, who had retired from the English allegiance. These, with their 'following,' made a large but ill-organized and ill-disciplined army; and the conduct of the great ones was vacillating and disappointing. When the trial time came, some of them deserted to the English side; but notwithstanding the infidelity of their masters, the middle and lower classes attached themselves to Wallace, and Sir Andrew Moray stood by him; his army, by little and little, swelled to a vast multitude: and the insurrection, which the King of England had been looking upon as a dangerous but comparatively trivial riot, had spread over the length and breadth of the land. On the 11th of September 1297, a great victory was gained over the English at Stirling; and never did a victory more cheer the conquerors. Again the Scots were free; and during a brief period of triumph which succeeded almost all the castles and fortresses surrendered to Wallace. It is touchingly sad to find that there even seems to have been some faint hopes, among those who only a few years before had been in the quiet pursuit of the arts of peace, of the recommencement of the business on which their all depended, for on the 11th October a document was issued in

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