CHAPTER XII.
REGENCY OF THE EARL OF ARRAN.—IMPRISONMENT OF BEATOUN.—TREATY OF PEACE WITH ENGLAND.
(1542–March 1543.)
GENERAL DEPRESSION.
The political and religious events in the midst of which James V. had been taken from Scotland were of so grave a character that the wisest heads felt some alarm, and expected to see a storm break forth such as no one had ever seen the like.[266] An unexpected blow, considering the youthful years of the prince, had fallen on the nation. With eyes fixed on the future, nobles and people talked together of their fears and the faintness of their hopes.[267] In the Lowlands, in the heart of the Highlands, at Edinburgh, at Glasgow, at Stirling, and in other towns of Scotland, men with pale faces and a restless air were questioning one another in distress of mind about the fate in reserve for their country. The shameful defeat at Solway, which had given the king his death-blow, had filled the people with mourning and dread. The most illustrious lords of Scotland, taken prisoners by the English, had been exposed to the gaze of the citizens of London. Those who still remained in Scotland were divided by implacable hatred, and by religious views diametrically opposed to each other; and it was anticipated that dissensions long suppressed by the fear of the king would now burst forth. The cardinal and the bishops, giving themselves up without restraint to their passion for dominion, were going to take advantage of the death of James to bring the people into subjection. Henry VIII., glorying in the unexpected victory which he had just won, did not fail, now that his nephew was no more, to turn to account (and in what a fashion!) his pretensions to Scotland. For maintaining order in the country there was a queen eight days old. The next heir to the crown after her, Hamilton, earl of Arran, was not fitted by his virtues, or his intelligence, or his courage to rule the people. Many destructive agencies were at work in Scotland; loud lamentations were heard. One thing alone could save the country—the Gospel.
ALLEGED WILL OF JAMES V.
The king being dead, it appeared to Beatoun that the public troubles offered him a favorable opportunity for becoming master, for securing the triumph of the French party, for abolishing the Reformation, and establishing the supremacy of the clergy. Since Scotland was abased, he was to be exalted. It was needful to act quickly. The nobles who were recently made prisoners, and those who had for a long time lived in exile in England, were about to return. The cardinal knew well that they detested his subservience to the pope, his ambition, and his arrogance; and he had no doubt that they would vigorously oppose him. The earl of Arran, next heir after Mary to the crown, was it is true in Scotland, and seemed to be called to make head against him; but the haughty cardinal made little account of that. The earl is unambitious, said he; he has no energy, and all his wish is to have nothing to do. Besides, Arran was his near relation, a son of one of his aunts.[268] The king had scarcely breathed his last when the cardinal went boldly to the queen-mother at Linlithgow, fortified with the document on which he assumed to found his pretensions. ‘Welcome, my lord,’ said the queen, who as yet knew nothing more than the serious illness of her husband; ‘is not the king dead?’ Mary of Guise supposed that the first prelate of the kingdom was come solely to announce to her the sovereign’s death. But Beatoun had another end in view in this visit. Without loss of time he produced the king’s testament containing the nomination of a regency composed of the cardinal and the earls of Argyle, Huntley, and Murray, the first-named to be president of the council and guardian to the royal infant. This document was generally considered to have been extorted from the dying king. Many persons even believed that the cardinal’s agent had guided the hand of the dead king, and obtained a signature in blank which the cardinal had afterwards filled up at his own will. Buchanan states that the cardinal, having gained over a certain priest named Balfour, had with his assistance forged a false testament. Knox, Sadler, and Lesley also speak in the same way.[269] At the market-cross at Edinburgh the cardinal had proclamation made, on the Monday after the king’s death, of the alleged deed which made him the first personage in the realm.
Many of the Scots were indignant at this proceeding, and said openly that both the regency and the guardianship of the infant Mary belonged to Hamilton, earl of Arran, who, as next heir to the crown through his grandmother, the daughter of James II., would be king, it was said, if the little princess should chance to die. Had not her two brothers died in their infancy? The general hatred of the cardinal, and the horror felt at the thought of living under the government of a priest, impelled a large number of people to support the cause of Hamilton. ‘Occasion offers herself to you,’ they said to him; ‘do not let her pass.’ The laird of Grange especially urged this noble to maintain his rights. But Arran, for want of spirit, was ready to abandon them. It was at last determined to call together the nobility of the realm, that they might decide to whose hands the government should be intrusted during the minority. The nobles met on the appointed day. The cardinal and his partisans resisted with all their might the proposal to commit the government of the realm to the earl of Arran. ‘The Hamiltons,’ said they, ‘are cruel murderers, oppressors of innocents, proud, avaricious, double and false, and finally, the pestilence in this commonwealth.’ Arran had, indeed, given himself up to the domination of dishonorable men. However, he remained calm, and contemned these insults. ‘Call me what you please,’ replied he, ‘but defraud me not of my right. Whatever my friends have been, yet unto this day has no man cause to complain upon me. Neither yet am I minded to flatter my friends in their evil doing, but by God’s grace shall be forward to correct their enormities. Therefore yet again, my lord, in God’s name I crave that ye do me no wrong, nor defraud me of my just title before ye have experience of my government.’ This appeal touched the hearers, and all cried out that unless the fear of God and his righteousness were trampled under foot, the claim of Arran could not be rejected. He was therefore proclaimed governor of Scotland, in spite of Beatoun; and the king’s palace, his treasures, his jewels, and other chattels of the crown were delivered up to him by the officials who had charge of them. This took place on January 10, a few days after the cardinal’s proclamation.
ARRAN PROCLAIMED REGENT.
Arran, it is true, was not distinguished for his virtues nor for his intelligence, but he was very generally liked, as weak men often are. ‘The earl of Arran,’ wrote Lord Lisle to Henry VIII., ‘is himself a good soft God’s man, and loveth well to look on the Scripture, but he hath many that ruleth about him of his kin which be shrewd and evil men.’[270] Never had any regent been received with so much liking and hope, and this was the case especially because people were glad to be delivered from the cardinal. It was thought that he would reform all that went wrong in the church or state, and his first acts corresponded with this hope.[271] That Arran should thus get possession of power was astonishing, for he was as weak as Beatoun was strong, and the weakest, they say, always goes to the wall. In this case the reverse happened. But many people thought that the arrangement would be only temporary. Arran was the earthen pot of the fable, Beatoun the iron pot, and it was not difficult to foresee which of the two would break the other. It was not long before Arran gave a proof of his too easy temper. Instead of adopting measures for withdrawing the realm from the influence of Beatoun, as soon as the latter claimed to be made chancellor of Scotland, Arran committed that office to his hands, in order to alleviate the disgrace to which the assembly of the nobles had just subjected him.[272] The ambitious cardinal, however, did not long keep that post of influence.