Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 9.djvu/182

1 68 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 53. ately revolt. He sent word therefore to Elizabeth, that he would assist her to the utmost of his power, and at once went down to the Border with all the men that he could collect. Thus it was that he came to he at Jed- burgh when the Earls arrived in Scotland. The Eng- lish army had halted on their own frontier, but a de- mand was sent from Berwick to the Regent requiring him to arrest and give them up. By the treaties be- tween the two countries, traitors were excluded from protection, but this particular article had never been observed. The Scots were tenacious of their right of asylum, and especially sensitive when England at- tempted to violate it. The Border outlaws, who would plunder a church with the same indifference with which they would sack a farm-house, drive their neighbour's cattle, or cut his throat, regarded the protection of a fugitive on either side of the line as the one duty of which neglect was disgraceful. To fly in the face of such a feeling would have been extremely dangerous at any time, and at the existing crisis their ordinary jealousies were aggravated by the resentment of party. The Scotts, the Kers, the Maxwells, the Humes, the Hepburns, were all Catholics, all devoted to the Queen of Scots, all sympathizers with the English Earls. Murray asked whether he might look for any assistance from Elizabeth to enable him to maintain a regular force. He had no resources of his own for such a pur- pose. ( His own life was directly sought/ and as things stood, it was Elizabeth's interest to uphold him. 1 He Murray to Cecil, December 22 (midnight) : MSS. Scotland.