SCOTLAND. 



095 



Frenchman, to succeed Home in the wardennhip of 



the marches, and Lord Fleming to the office of cham- 

 t^,.,^ 



Albany's removal was the effect of Henry's resent- 

 ment, and pn-j orations were now made for the recep- 

 tion of Margaret. Upon her arrival a council of re. 

 gency was formed ; but the discord between the queen 

 and her husband, the Earl of Angus, inflamed the ani- 

 mosities of their respective friends. The Earl of A r ran 

 retired to Glasgow, and Angus, with the partisans of 

 England, continued at Edinburgh. The country was 

 thus divided into two factions. 



A parliament met at Edinburgh, to compose the na- 

 tional disorders ; but a scene of tumult and outrage 

 ensued. The partisans of Arran and Angus had a fierce 

 encounter in the High-street, seventy were slain, and 

 Arran, with his defeated followers, fled to Stirling. 



Though Albany was reluctantly detained in France, 

 he was not inattentive to the interests of Scotland. He 

 concluded a treaty of perpetual alliance between the 

 kingdoms, which was the basis of the subsequent con- 

 nexions between them, and to the latter so fatal. And, 

 to strengthen the interests of his party, the king of 

 France sent a splendid embassy into Scotland. An en- 

 voy from Albany succeeded in effecting a reconciliation 

 between the queen and the regent. He also left that 

 country for Scotland, and, upon his arrival, was joined 

 by the queen, receiving the keys of the castle, and the 

 charge of the young king's person. 



Angus and his adherents fled to the borders, and had 

 recourse to the expedients of circulating a report of an 

 intended marriage between Albany and the queen, and 

 of a design upon the young king's life, with the view 

 of aspiring to the crown. These accusations were lis- 

 tened to by the English court ; and Henry, affecting 

 to consider the regent as the vassal of France, prepared 

 for war. The fugitive Angus hovered about the fron- 

 tiers in suspense. Albany consented to pardon him, on 

 condition that he should exile himself to France. He 

 accordingly passed over to France; but returned in 

 two years after to Scotland, and successfully combated 

 all the efforts of the queen and the regt nt. 



A. D. 1528. The war which was about to open with England, 

 hastened the downfal of the regent's authority. Henry 

 had expressed his determination to drive him from the 

 government ; and addressed a remonstrance to the 

 Scottish parliament, accompanied with a declaration of 

 war if his desire was not complied with. A squadron 

 of seven English ships was sent to the Frith of Forth ; 

 a few maritime towns and villages were destroyed ; and 

 the English retired, after encountering some opposi- 

 tion from the Scots. 



Disappointed in her ambitious views, the queen be- 

 gan to waver in her attachment to Albany, and cor- 

 responded with Lord Dacre. The English cabinet is- 

 sued a proclamation for a general arming through the 

 northern counties, of which the Earl of Shrewsbury 

 was constituted lieutenant-general. An ineffectual at- 

 tempt was made to negotiate a truce, and one of the 

 most effective and best appointed armies that the Scots 

 had ever mustered, took the field, and advanced to the 

 frontiers. 



Fortunately for England the Scottish army, though 

 reported to be eighty thousand strong, wanted a leader ; 

 for Albany was not a soldier. The Scots had not for. 

 gotten the disasters at Flodden. After an interview 

 with Lord Dacre, the recent consented to disband his 

 army. But as the pacification might be offensive to 

 the French monarch, Albany reaolved to sail to France 



to apologize, and to solicit a supply of troops, money, Hbtstr. 

 and stores. \^^^/ 



The government was intrusted to Beaton the chan- 

 cellor, Huntly, Argyll, and Arran. Being apprised of 

 his departure, the Knglith dispatched an envoy into 

 Scotland to examine and report the state of parties, and 

 to complain of Albany ; but the lords of the regency 

 returned an evasive answer, and Henry instructed the 

 Karl of Surrey to invade Scotland, who, at the head of 

 ten thousand men, ravaged Merse, Teviotdale, and the 

 adjacent country. Meantime the queen and Surrey A.D 1313. 

 were engaged in private negotiation. Margaret was 

 detached from the French party, and engaged in the 

 English interest. But the regent's sudden arrival dis- 

 concerted these projects. He arrived in the Clyde 

 with an armament of four thousand French infantry, 

 and, in order to atone for the disgrace of his former 

 campaign, he instigated the nobles to revenge the mis- 

 fortunes of Flodden. An army of sixty thousand was 

 speedily asser.ibled, with which he marched to chas- 

 tise the enemy ; but upon Surrey's approach, Albany 

 ordered a retreat, and his army, infected with his pu- 

 sillanimity, fled. 



This was a fatal blow to Albany's interest, and be re- A.D. 152. 

 solved to take his final leave of a country, in which be 

 had experienced only mortification and disgrace. 



It was now determined to commit the supreme power 

 ostensibly to the king, now in his twelfth year ; but in 

 reality to a council devoted to the interests of England. 

 The queen was included. With a coadjutor in Arran," 

 the English interest became irresistible. The queen, 

 accompanied by her son, left Stirling castle, and arrived 

 in Edinburgh amid acclamations of joy ; but by her 

 reserved conduct towards the nobles she lost their af- 

 fection and support, and by her connexion with Arran 

 she excited the jealousy of England. 



After two years residence in France the Earl of 

 Angus suddenly left that country, and arrived in Lon- 

 don, and, to soften the queen's resentment, sent her a 

 submissive and conciliatory letter. But, impatient of 

 the event, he appeared before Edinburgh with the Earl 

 of Lennox and Scott of Buccleuch ; and, having scaled 

 the walls, entered the city. A commotion was likely to 

 ensue, and Angus, having received a royal mandate 

 commanding him to retire, withdrew. 



The chancellor, perceiving the decline of the French 

 interest, formed an union with Angus for the purpose 

 of preserving his power. In consequence of a royal 

 proclamation, threatening them with confiscation and 

 death for holding illegal conferences, they issued a 

 counter-proclamation, summoning a parliament to meet 

 at Stirling. The chancellor had the address to procure 

 the chief authority for himself and Angus ; while the A.D.1485. 

 queen was flattered with the nominal authority, which 

 she did not long retain. Her credit with the court of 

 England was soon after finally lost, by the detection of 

 a clandestine correspondence with Albany, for the pur- 

 pose of procuring a divorce from her husband, and the 

 disposal of the benefices in Scotland. The project of 

 a perpetual peace, and of the marriage of the king of 

 Scots with the princess Mary of England, was ominous 

 of the fate of the French power in Scotland. A peace 

 between England and France was the consequence, and 

 contributed to establish the ascendancy of the former 

 in that country. 



Exasperated at the decline of their influence, the 

 queen and Arran had recourse to the most desperate 

 measures. To crush this rebellion, the king took the 

 field, accompanied by Angus, Argyll, and Lennox. No 



