WILLIAM WALLACE—ROBERT BRUCE.
Valley, Wis.
1. Will you please give a few of the principal facts in the life of Sir William Wallace? 2. Where and when did Robert Bruce die?
E. F. Marshall.
Answer.—1. Wallace was the younger son of a Scottish knight of good family in the southwest of Scotland. Neither the date nor the place of his birth is definitely known, but the former must have been about 1270. There is nothing certain known of his early life. He first comes into notice as the leader of an insurrectionary movement against Edward I. who had usurped the regal rights of John Baliol, King of Scotland, and held him a prisoner in the Tower of London. In 1297 the rebellion against Edward had become general, and Wallace, resolved to force the liberation of Baliol and the independence of Scotland, made preparations to invade England. On the 11th of September he defeated the English forces under the Earl of Surrey at Sterling Castle with great slaughter, and, pursuing them into Cumberland and Northumberland, ravaged that portion of England. On his return he was made Governor of Scotland, or Regent, in the name of the imprisoned monarch. This elevation of a man of comparatively humble birth over the nobility of Scotland excited fierce jealousy among the latter, which undoubtedly had much to do with the defeat of the Scots the subsequent year by the English King and an overwhelming army at Falkirk, July 22. The war was continued with varying fortunes for seven years, but in 1304 Edward compelled the Scots to submit, granting amnesty to all the insurgent nobles. Wallace, however, was excepted from amnesty, and, having been betrayed into the hands of Edward by his own countrymen, he was carried to London, where, after a mock trial on the charge of treason, and the endurance of barbarities of the most savage nature, he was executed Aug. 23, 1305. His name is held in reverence by all true Scots, who now concede to him the glory of having roused the Scotch love of country, and led the way to that sturdy resistance of English oppression which finally resulted in averting the fate that overtook Ireland. A monument to Wallace was erected at Abbey Craig, near Stirling, at a cost of £13,000, and inaugurated Aug. 27, 1869. 2. Robert Bruce, King of Scots, died at Cardross Castle, on the firth of Clyde, June 7, 1329.
ANNUAL EXPENDITURES OF THE UNITED STATES.
Dixon, Ill.
What has been the least expenditure of the United States Government in any single year since it was established; also what has been the greatest, and what has been the annual expenditure of each year since the war?