Meanwhile James was putting himself into a position to receive that visit gallantly, and was assembling his army before Edinburgh. He had there about twenty thousand men, besides ten thousand more on the frontier, under the command of the earl of Huntley. But dissension prevailed in his camp. There were some who cared little for the old doctrine, but who were eager above everything to break the iron yoke of the cardinal. Others there were, attached to the Douglases and the Anguses, who were in the English army, and who had no mind to fight against them. Others, again, feeling the inferiority of the Scottish army, steadily insisted that they ought to remain strictly on the defensive. On a sudden, the Scots encamped at Fala learnt that for want of supplies the English were retreating on the Tweed. James, who was easily excited, immediately called together his lords, and exclaimed, ‘Forward! follow me into England!’ His words were received in a gloomy silence. ‘We are ready, sire,’ said some of the lords to him, ‘to risk life and whatsoever we have to defend your person and your realm, but we do not see any sufficient reason for invading England. Our provisions are spent, our horses wearied; and as for ourselves, we have so long been absent from our homes, that we think it high time to return.’
James dissembled his chagrin, and even assumed an air of approval of the discretion of his lords. But he trembled to see his kingly authority trampled under foot by his subjects. He was plainly master no longer. His subservience to the priests had ruined him. The nobles and the common soldiers, instead of falling upon the English, returned every man to his own home, and the king, abandoned and left almost alone, consumed by the profound vexation which was gradually wearing him away, returned mournfully to Edinburgh.
It was now November 2 or 3. He immediately convoked a council at Holyrood palace. But in his rage against the nobles, he summoned only the bishops, the priests, and their partisans; all those who made a trade of pandering to the passions of the prince and who had no other aim but to secure the triumph of the clergy. When they saw the king’s discouragement, and his anger against the nobles, they persuaded themselves that the moment was come for them to make an end of their enemies. That, they thought, would not be very difficult. These men, branded by public opinion, did not care to furnish evidence in support of their denunciations. The only trouble they took was to deprive the innocent of all means of clearing themselves. They thought that it would for the moment suffice them to obtain a hearing, to accuse some noble of heresy and to call as witnesses certain men of infamous character in their own pay. With one accord, therefore, they all strove to inflame the king against the Reformation and its friends. Oliver Sinclair, among the laymen, distinguished himself in these proceedings, and among the churchmen, Beatoun. ‘The cardinal and the priests,’ it was said, ‘cast fagots in the fire with all their force.’[250] They drew up a list containing the names of all of whom they wished to be rid. There were the names of about one hundred nobles, among whom were Lord Hamilton, the first person of the realm after the king, the earls of Cassilis and Glencairn, the earl Marshal, and other nobles, all well disposed towards the Word of God.[251] This fact shows what progress the Reformation had made in Scotland. The majority of these suspects, to be sure, were not decided evangelical Christians, but they had leanings that way. Once already James had refused to accept such a list. But the case was different now, and he accepted it at once, and expressed to the prelates his regret that he had so long set their counsels aside. ‘I see clearly at this moment that you are right,’ he said; ‘the nobles neither desire my honor nor my continuance; for they would not ride a mile for my pleasure to follow enemies. Will ye therefore find me the means that I may have raid made in England without their knowledge and consent, that may be known to be my own raid, and I shall bind me to your counsel forever.’
A PROSCRIPTION LIST.
The joy of the cardinal and his friends was unbounded. They congratulated each other, they clapped their hands;[252] the game was won. They made promises one to another of diligent service, discretion, and fidelity. They encountered however some few difficulties. The king required before all else an invasion, and he wanted to be able to say to the nobles, ‘Where you fell back I advanced and have conquered.’ How proceed so as to insure success in the enterprise? They resolved to select as the battle-field not the east, in the direction of Berwick, where the forces of Henry VIII. lay, but the northwestern quarter, which was stripped, left without an army, almost without a garrison. Carlisle would presently be taken, and James would triumph at the same time over the nobles and the king of England.
He attached the utmost importance to this deed of arms. The royal banner was secretly brought out, letters were addressed to the men selected by the priests, inviting them to meet the king on such a day, at such a place. The bishops undertook to bear the expenses of this affair. The cardinal and the earl of Arran, by way of diversion, went eastward, as if the Scots purposed to pass the frontier in that quarter, where frequent combats had taken place between them and the English. The king, satisfied with all these preparations, and entertaining no doubt of success, accepted the fatal list presented by the cardinal and put it into his pocket. Immediately after his triumph and in the very midst of his glory, all those suspected should be seized and executed. The Reformation should be extinguished, and Rome should definitively reign. Everything was to be done with the strictest secrecy.
On the night before the day appointed for setting out, James slept at Lochmaben,[253] where stood one of the royal castles. There, without incurring any danger, he was as near as possible to the scene of the exploits all the honor of which he wished to reap. Troops arrive from all sides, without any knowledge of what was wanted with them. On the day fixed, at midnight, the trumpets sound, the companies are formed, and the command is given to march forward ‘in the suite of the king,’ who was supposed to be with the expedition. At daybreak begins the campaign which is to deliver up Scotland into the cruel hands of the cardinal. The Scots approach the territory of England and pass the water without meeting any resistance. They set fire to the houses and corn fields which lie on their way, and the poor dwellers in those country places, starting out of their sleep, see before them to their great amazement an army of ten thousand men, and flames shooting up on all sides. They tremble with fright and resign themselves to despair, wondering in themselves how such an army could possibly have advanced so far without their having the faintest suspicion of it. Whence comes it? Whither is it going? Is it come from the abyss of hell?
ROUT OF THE SCOTS.
Everything about this expedition was indeed extraordinary, and even the Scots themselves did not know who was in command. Lord Maxwell, warden of the western marches, was present, and to him that office naturally belonged; but neither he nor the troops knew anything at all about the matter. At ten o’clock an unexpected event occurred. The Scots finding themselves on English ground at Solway, the trumpets were sounded, the army halted, and the royal flag was displayed and floated in the midst of them. The wretched Oliver Sinclair mounted on a kind of shield formed by lances which rested on the shoulders of some of the soldiers. He presented letters which had been sent him by the king. This prince, in the belief that this worthless courtier was a great captain, had named him commander-in-chief. These letters were read to the army, and the favorite had himself proclaimed lieutenant-general, with orders to render obedience to him as to the king himself. By what the courtiers said, to put Sinclair at the head of the army was to make victory certain. James would not rely upon any of his nobles. Not one of them was to have the glory of the expedition; it was to be the achievement of James, to whom the command belonged. Maxwell was present at that ceremony, seeing everything, hearing everything, and he was astounded at it, ‘but he thought more than he spoke.’[254] Other lords who were present did the same. No sooner had the proclamation been read than murmurs, discouragement, and disorder spread through the army. At the same time the English took up arms in all haste, ten in one company, twenty in another. Carlisle closed its gates, and shortly after about five hundred horsemen appeared on the neighboring heights for the purpose of reconnoitring the Scottish force.[255] The Scots took these horsemen for the advance guard of the army of the duke of Norfolk, and being seized with a panic terror, many of them broke from the ranks. Some wanted to fight, others wanted to fly. Everything was disorder and confusion. The troops disbanded and took to flight in all directions. Lord Maxwell, who had foreseen from the first moment the end of this mad business, alighted from his horse and spoke to some friends. ‘To horse and fly,’ they said to him. ‘Nay,’ replied he, ‘I will rather abide here the chance that it shall please God to send me than to go home and then be hanged.’[256] The Scots, both horse and foot, threw away their arms and ran with all their might. A great number of them were taken prisoners by the soldiers of Henry VIII., and some were captured by Scottish adventurers and sold to the English.[257] To such a degree had James’s soldiers lost heart, that those who did not fall into the hands of men rushed into houses and surrendered themselves to women.[258] The water had to be recrossed: the tide was high, the river deep. Many were drowned, and a good number of those who escaped the river perished in the marshes. Oliver Sinclair, who was ‘fleeing full manfully,’[259] was captured without having struck a single blow. The most distinguished among the Scottish nobles, the earls of Cassilis and Glencairn, the Lords Somerville, Grey, and Oliphant, were seen laying down their arms. Maxwell found thus the fate which he had desired. These lords and gentlemen were sent to London and committed to the Tower. Two days after, Henry commanded that they should pass through the streets of London on foot, exposed thus as a spectacle to the populace,[260] like the captives who adorned the triumphs of Roman generals. When they arrived at the palace, they were received there by the Lord Chancellor, who addressed to them severe rebukes, accused them of having violated the faith of treaties, and extolled the goodness and clemency of Henry VIII., who assigned them various houses for their abode.
MURDER OF AN ENGLISH ENVOY.