Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 7.djvu/266

402 and other priests, who were ministers of the Lord, fled, with the whole people, from the face of the enemy: nor was there any to oppose them, except that, now and then, a few English, who belonged to the castle of Alnwick, and other strengths, ventured from their safe-holds, and slew some stragglers. But these were slight successes; and the Scots roved over the country, from the Feast of St Luke's to St Martin's Day, inflicting upon it all the miseries of unrestrained rapine and bloodshed." All the tract of country, from^Cockermouth and Carlisle, to the gates of Newcastle, was laid waste; and it was next determined to invade the county of Durham. But the winter set in with such severity, and provisions became so scarce, that multitudes of the Scots perished through cold and famine, and Wallace was obliged to draw off his army. It seems that he endeavoured in vain to restrain many outrages of his followers. The canons of Hexham, a large town in Northumberland, complained to him that their monastery had been sacrilegiously plundered, and that their lives were in danger. "Remain with me," he said; "for I cannot protect you from my soldiers, when you are out of my presence." At the same time, he granted them a charter, by which the priory and convent were admitted under the peace of the king of Scotland; and all persons interdicted, on pain of the loss of life, from doing them injury This curious document still exists. It is dated at Hexham on the 8th of November, 1297.

After his return from England, Wallace proceeded to adopt and enforce those public measures, which he considered necessary for securing the liberty of his country. With the consent and approbation of the Scottish nobility, he conferred the office of constabulary of Dundee, on Alexander, named Skirmischur, or Scrimgeour, and his heirs, "for his faithful aid in bearing the banner of Scotland." He divided the kingdom into military districts, in order to secure new levies, at any time when the danger or exigency of the state required them. He appointed an officer or sergeant over every four men, another of higher power over every nine, another of still higher authority over every nineteen; and thus, in an ascending scale of disciplined authority, up to the officer, or chiliarch, who commanded a thousand men. In other respects, his administration was marked by justice and sound judgment. He was liberal in rewarding those who deserved well of their country, by their exertions during its late struggle for liberty; and strict in punishing all instances of private wrong and oppression. But the envy and jealousy of the higher nobility, who could ill brook the elevation of one whose actions had thrown them so much into the shade, perplexed the councils, and weakened the government, of the country, at a time when the political existence of Scotland depended on its unanimity.

Edward was in Flanders when the news reached him, that the Scots, under Sir William Wallace, had entirely defeated Surrey, driven every English soldier out of their country, invaded England, and, in short, had thrown off effectually the yoke with which he had fettered them. Inflamed against them, at this overthrow of his exertions and schemes, he issued orders to all the forces of England and Wales to meet him at York; and, concluding a truce with France, hastened home, to take signal vengeance on the assertors of their liberty, and to make final conquest of a country which had proved so contumacious and untractable. At York, he held a parliament, on the Feast of