wisdom of the one could plan, the daring courage of the other was fully ready
to execute. In this respect Randolph, who was the chief leader of the enterprise, appears to have wonderfully changed from that fiery young knight of
Strah-don, who joined in the hot chase against his uncle in the wilds of Galloway, arid afterwards, when taken prisoner, had reproached him to his beard for
having recourse to delays and stratagems, instead of hazarding all upon an open
field. His wisdom was as conspicuous through the whole of this singular campaign, as the daring valour and chivalrous deeds of the Douglas, Into the
particulars of the campaign itself we do not enter, as these have been fully detailed in another part of this work.[1] After the pair had wrought fearful havoc,
defied the whole chivalry of England, and shifted their ground so rapidly that they could not be overtaken, or intrenched themselves so skilfully that they could not be attacked, they returned to Scotland unmolested, and laden with
plunder. The blow they had dealt on this occasion was so heavy, that England,
wearied with so disastrous a strife, succumbed to a treaty of peace, which was ratified in a parliament held at Northampton in April, 1328. The conditions were
glorious to Scotland, for by these the independence of the kingdom was recognized, and all the advantages that Edward I. had won with so much toil and
expense, were renounced and relinquished ; and, if not honourable, they were
absolutely necessary for England, whose treasures were exhausted, and her
people dispirited by defeat, while her councils, controlled by a profligate queen
and her minion, promised to end in nothing but ruin and shame.
Only a year after this event, by which Bruce's utmost hopes were realized, he breathed his last, at Cardross, surrounded by the faithful Warriors who had partaken of his victories, as well as his trials and cares. His dying testament, which he gave on this occasion, for the future protection of the kingdom, as well as the commission which he intrusted to the "good Lord James," to carry his heart to the holy sepulchre, are matters familiar to every reader of Scottish history. By the act of settlement, passed in 1315, Thomas Randolph, Earl of Moray, became regent of the kingdom during the minority of his young cousin, David II.
On entering upon the duties of the regency, the Earl of Moray showed himself not only an able but strict and stern justiciary. In such a situation, indeed, severity to the criminal was true clemency to society at large, in consequence of the wild insecurity which so protracted a warfare had occasioned. The strictness with which he enforced the laws, gives us not only a strange picture of the state of society in general, bat the nature of Scottish legislation since the days of Malcolm Canmore. Minstrels and players, who often made their profession a cover for every kind of license, he prohibited from wandering about the country, under severe penalties. If any one assaulted a traveller, or any public officer while in the discharge of his duty, he made it lawful for any man to kill the offender. To prevent robberies, and promote a feeling of security among the industrious, he made a law that the countrymen should leave their iron tools and plough-gear in the field, and that they should not shut their houses nor stalls at night. If anything was stolen, the loss was to be repaired by the sheriff of the county, and the sheriff was to be reimbursed by the king; and the king was to be indemnified out of the goods of the robbers when they were taken. To insure the due execution of the laws, he also held justice-aires,
- ↑ See "Sir James Douglas," vol. ii., pp. 111-113.
