In Freedoms Cause | Page 5

attempt.'
"However, he saw that nothing could be done on the instant, and
adjourned the meeting for three weeks, at the end of which time the
prelates, nobles, and community of Scotland were invited to bring
forward whatever they could in opposition to his claim to supremacy.
"At the time fixed the Scotch nobles again met, but this time on the
Scottish side of the Border, for Edward had gathered together the whole
of the force of the northern counties.
"Besides the four claimants, whose names I have told you, were Sir
John Hastings, Patrick Dunbar, Earl of March, William de Vesci,
Robert de Pinkeny, Nicholas de Soulis, Patrick Galythly, Roger de
Mandeville, Florence, Count of Holland, and Eric, King of Norway.
With the exception of Eric, the Count of Holland, Dunbar, and Galythly,
all of these were of Norman extraction, and held possessions in
England. When the meeting was opened the prelates and nobles present
advanced nothing to disprove Edward's claim to supremacy. The
representatives of the commons, however, did show reason against the
claim, for which, indeed, my son, as every man in Scotland knows,
there was not a shadow of foundation.
"The king's chancellor declared that there was nothing in these
objections to Edward's claim, and therefore he resolved, as lord
paramount, to determine the question of succession. The various
competitors were asked whether they acknowledged Edward as lord
paramount, and were willing to receive his judgment as such; and the

whole of these wretched traitors proceeded to barter their country for
their hopes of a crown, acknowledged Edward as lord paramount, and
left the judgment in his hands.
"Bruce and Baliol received handsome presents for thus tamely yielding
the rights of Scotland. All present at once agreed that the castles and
strongholds of Scotland should be surrendered into the hands of
English commanders and garrisons. This was immediately done; and
thus it is, Archie, that you see an English officer lording it over the
Scotch town of Lanark.
"Then every Scotchman was called upon to do homage to the English
king as his lord paramount, and all who refused to do so were seized
and arrested. Finally, on the 17th of November last, 1292 -- the date
will long be remembered in Scotland -- Edward's judgment was given
at Berwick, and by it John Baliol was declared King of Scotland.
"Thus for eighteen months Scotland was kept in doubt; and this was
done, no doubt, to enable the English to rivet their yoke upon our
shoulders, and to intimidate and coerce all who might oppose it."
"There were some that did oppose it, mother, were there not? -- some
true Scotchmen who refused to own the supremacy of the King of
England?"
"Very few, Archie. One Sir Malcolm Wallace, a knight of but small
estate, refused to do so, and was, together with his eldest son, slain in
an encounter with an English detachment under a leader named
Fenwick at Loudon Hill."
"And was he the father of that William Wallace of whom the talk was
lately that he had slain young Selbye, son of the English governor of
Dundee?"
"The same, Archie."
"Men say, mother, that although but eighteen years of age he is of great
stature and strength, of very handsome presence, and courteous and

gentle; and that he was going quietly through the streets when insulted
by young Selbye, and that he and his companions being set upon by the
English soldiers, slew several and made their escape."
"So they say, Archie. He appears from all description of him to be a
remarkable young man, and I trust that he will escape the vengeance of
the English, and that some day he may again strike some blows for our
poor Scotland, which, though nominally under the rule of Baliol, is
now but a province of England."
"But surely, mother, Scotchmen will never remain in such a state of
shameful servitude!"
"I trust not, my son; but I fear that it will be long before we shake off
the English yoke. Our nobles are for the most part of Norman blood;
very many are barons of England; and so great are the jealousies among
them that no general effort against England will be possible. No, if
Scotland is ever to be freed, it will be by a mighty rising of the
common people, and even then the struggle between the commons of
Scotland and the whole force of England aided by the feudal power of
all the great Scotch nobles, would be well nigh hopeless."
This conversation sank deeply into Archie's mind; day and night he
thought of nothing but the lost freedom of Scotland, and vowed that
even the hope of regaining his father's lands should be secondary to that
of freeing his country. All