of unmerited abuse, the fame of one of the greatest of the English kings should at length be vindicated by documents, which have been all the while quietly reposing in the Chapter-House at Westminster, where they had nearly mouldered into dust, when, in the last stage of decay, they were rescued from destruction by the zeal and diligence of Sir Francis Palgrave. What stronger proof can be given of the urgency of a careful examination of our ancient records, in order to supply the defects and correct the errors of chroniclers and historians! What better answer to the vulgar spirit of economy that would suffer all the memorials of bygone times to perish, rather than expend the merest trifle for their preservation! The first of these documents* is an appeal preferred to the Guardians of Scotland, in name of the seven Earls and Community of that kingdom. After stating that the throne of Scotland has been vacant since the death of Alexander, and alleging that, by the immemorial laws and usages of the kingdom, it is the right of the seven Earls and Community of Scotland, when the throne is de jure and de facto vacant, to appoint a king, and place him in his royal seat, and invest him with the honours of royalty, the instrument goes on to declare, that lest William, Bishop of St Andrews, and John Comyn, who hold themselves to be Guardians of Scotland, and act as such, with that portion of the community which adheres to them, should of their own authority appoint a king, without regard to the rights of the seven Earls and Community of Scotland, the said Earls-of whom the son of Duncan, late Earl of Fife, is one-in their own names and in the names of the bishops, abbots, priors, earls, barons, freeholders, and community of Scotland, appeal by their procurator, regularly constituted for that purpose, to the authority and protection of Edward, and of the royal crown of England, againstany interference in the government of Scotland, to the prejudice of their rights, by William, Bishop of St Andrews, John Comyn, or John Baliol; and place themselves, their adherents, kindred and effects, movable and immovable, under the special guard and protection of Edward and of the English crown. They further pray for reparation of sundry wrongs and damages done to them by the said Guardians since the death of Alexander. A second document† contains a similar protest and appeal, in name of Donald, Earl of Mar, one of the seven Earls, and in name of the freemen of Moray, against a military execution perpetrated in the district of Moray, under authority of the said Guar dians, by subguardians of their appointment; and concludes, like the other paper, by placing the Earl of Mar and the men of Moray under the protection of Edward and of the English crown. The third document* is an appeal to the same authority in the name of Robert Bruce, Lord of Annandale, styling himself the lawful, true, and acknowledged heir of the Scottish crown; and complaining, that though he has propounded and offered to prosecute his claim to that dignity, the said Guardians and their abettors, without regard to his rights, or to those of the seven Earls, intend and propose to raise John Baliol to the throne; for which reason he appeals to Edward, and to the English crown for judgment thereon, which, from the said Guardians, he will not accept; submitting himself and his adherents, and the seven Earls in particular, to the protection and defence of Edward and of his royal crown. To this last appeal is annexed a memorandum, setting forth the pretensions of Bruce to the throne of Scotland. There is still a fourth paper,† written in French, the others being in Latin, with no name annexed to it, in which it is argued that King Richard had no right to release the King of Scotland from the homage he had rendered for his kingdom to the crown of England; concluding with an intimation, through a private and confidential agent, that if the King of England will demand his right according to law, the author of the note will aid and obey him, with all his friends and kindred. The author of this note, Sir Francis Palgrave conjectures to have been one of the competitors for the Scottish crown, most probably Bruce. It is in perfect accordance with his appeal. With these documents before us, it is idle declamation to lament the situation to which the Scottish nobles were reduced. at Norham; or to represent them as totally unprepared for the demand of Edward that they should acknowledge his claim as superior and Paramount Lord of Scotland. Bruce, at least, and his accomplices, had no reason for surprise, dismay, or embarrassment. They had suggested the claim, and appealed in private to the authority they were there called upon to acknowledge in public. To some of the partisans of Baliol the appeals of Bruce and his adherents might have been unknown. But, if the statements in the instruments of appeal be correct, they must have been communicated to the Bishop of St Andrews and to Comyn; and if known to them, most probably they were imparted to their friends. All ought to have been prepared for the claim of superiority; and if the spirit of Wallace had breathed in this assembly of nobles, the demand of Edward would have been instantly and indignantly rejected. But it required experience of foreign bondage to rouse that flame which finally triumphed over Edward and his successors. * Had our forefathers yielded, as the Irish did, to the yoke of England, or contented themselves, like them, with a rude and savage independence in the recesses of their mountains and morasses, we might at this day have been petitioning for an equality of rights with the more fortunate inhabitants of the south; or with indignation heard ourselves stigmatized as aliens, unworthy of the same privileges. It is not difficult to discern the motive for these appeals. It is clear that two of the Regents and their adherents, constituting probably a majority of the nation, were inclined to prefer Baliol as the lawful heir, or fittest successor of the Scottish crown; and that Bruce and his partisans, forming a minority of the kingdom, appealed to Edward from a consciousness of their own weakness, and, to conciliate his favour, were ready to sacrifice the independence of their country. Edward listened to their appeal so far as suited his own interest. He asserted, and so far as the recognition of a recreant nobility could effect it, he established the superiority of the English over the Scottish crown. Having attained that object, he seems to have proceeded with fairness in his adjudication of the kingdom. He appointed a numerous and impartial * Barbour has expressed with equal spirit and feeling the misery and oppression of Scotland under Edward; and concludes with a passionate exclamation which for centuries found an echo in every Scotsman's bosom. "A! fredome is a noble thing! Fredome mayss man to haiff liking; tribunal to examine the claims of the different competitors, and acquiesced in its decision. The traitor who had first tempted him to assert a right to which he had no just pretension was deprived of the expected fruits of his treason; and but for the spirit and military talents of his grandson, he would have left a name as odious in Scotland as that of the weak and unfortunate Baliol. * How far the party of Baliol had dipped in similar intrigues with Edward does not appear. No evidence against them has come to light. Fraser, Bishop of St Andrews, has been vilified as a traitor and creature of Edward, because he wrote a letter to that prince on the first rumour of the Queen's death, advising him to confer with John Baliol, if that nobleman presented himself before him, so that in all events his own honour and interest might be attended to; and urging him strongly, if these sinister reports should be confirmed, to repair instantly to the Borders in order to give confidence to the people of Scotland, and enable them, without effusion of blood, to fulfil their oath by placing the rightful heir on the throne, provided always, that he is a person willing to abide by your counsel." When it is considered that Fraser was one of the commissioners preparing to set out for Orkney to meet the young Queen, and convey her to her bridal, that he was friendly to the English alliance and highly satisfied with Edward's professions and past conduct towards Scotland; the concluding sentence, which is the only ambiguous part of his letter, will admit of an interpretation in no respects injurious to his character. Whatever misfortune might disturb the projected matrimonial alliance between the two kingdoms, he was desirous they should remain, as they had done for many years, in friendship and peace; and justly thought that a disposition to preserve amicable relations with England, ought, in the vagueness and uncertainty of the Scotch law of succession, to be one, and not the * Fœdera, i. 741. Hailes does not understand what is meant by the ' oath here mentioned.' It evidently refers to the marriage articles between young Edward and Margaret, which had been ratified by oath on both sides. We cannot adopt Sir Francis Palgrave's strained interpretation of the expression-dum tamen ille vestro consilio voluerit adhærere-nor yet accept the vague translation of Hailes, provided always that he is willing to follow your counsel.' The words seem to us to convey more than is allowed by the one, and less than is assumed by the other. We should be inclined to render the clause in question,-provided he will abide by your counsel, that is to say, adhere to the policy you have hitherto pursued. least important, consideration in the choice of his future sovereign. Had not the selfish ambition of Bruce interposed, it is probable that the pacific views of the bishop might have been realized; and the tranquil Baliol, raised to the throne without the sacrifice of national independence, might have maintained the same friendly intercourse with Edward, which for the last fifty years had so happily subsisted between the two countries. The rivality of Bruce defeated this scheme, which, in the relative position of Scotland and England, was the best that could have been devised. Finding a majority of the Scottish nation, and more especially of the clergy, who were the most enlightened part of it, on the side of his competitor, Bruce, who seems to have been engaged in measures of violence during Margaret's life, adopted a new line of policy; and, to gain Edward, whom he must formerly have offended, he made a voluntary oblation of that national independence, which Fraser, from his subsequent conduct, appears to have been most ardent to defend. 6 No man of that period has been more unjustly treated by the historians of Scotland than Fraser, Bishop of St Andrews. He has been described as a man of dark, intriguing spirit'-watch'ing over the interests of Edward with dark and dangerous policy' - making a base proposal to him, and by his influence with the nobility inducing them to solicit the interference of the English King.' So much the reverse of these imputations was the truth, that in the really base and treasonable appeal of Bruce and his accomplices, Fraser, Bishop of St Andrews, is designated with John Comyn as the two Guardians, who, without reference to Edward and his pretensions, intended to raise Baliol to the throne of Scotland. But it was enough for historians, partial to the line of Bruce, to stigmatize Fraser without a colour of justice, that he was a partisan of Baliol. What we know of his subsequent life redounds to his credit. So far from profiting by his supposed treachery to Scotland, the favours he received from Edward during the first interregnum were few and inconsiderable; while his rival, the Brucean Wisheart, the spirited Bishop' of Glasgow, a lord, says the gossiping Wyntown, of gret wertu, had gifts of money and other grants to a large amount. When the general indignation of his subjects compelled the feeble Baliol to renounce the submission he had sworn to Edward, the formerly pacific Bishop of St Andrews, the man entirely devoted to 'England,' was selected as one of the Scottish ambassadors to negotiate an alliance, offensive and defensive, with France, which he effected. He is said to have returned to Scotland after the subjugation of Baliol, and instead of hastening with the rest of his countrymen to propitiate the conqueror by timely submission, to 6 |