Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 8.djvu/89

Rh islands that had hitherto been the strongholds of rebellion, another of the Bartons was employed to vindicate its dignity abroad and among foreigners. This was Andrew, who for some time had held with his brothers the chief direction of maritime affairs in Scotland, and been employed in the formation of a royal navy, as well as in cruises against the rich carracks of Portugal. The Hollanders, in the true spirit of piracy, by which the maritime communities of Europe were at this time inspired, had attacked a small fleet of Scottish merchant vessels, and not only plundered them, but murdered the crews, and thrown their bodies into the sea. This outrage, from a people with whom the Scots were at peace, was not to be tolerated, and Andrew Barton was sent with a squadron to chastise the offenders. And this he did with a merciless severity, that reminds us of the "Douglas Larder." He captured many of the piratical ships, and not only put their crews to death, but barrelled their heads in the empty casks which he found in the vessels, and sent them home to his sovereign, to prove how well he had discharged his duty.

The time had now arrived, however, when Andrew Barton, after having made so many successful cruises, was to fall upon the deck where he had so often stood a conqueror. His death, also, strangely enough, was mainly owing to the tortuous intrigues of a pontiff, about whom, it is probable, he had heard little, and cared still less. Julius II. having formed designs of political self-aggrandizement which a war between France and England would have prevented, was anxious to find the latter sufficient occupation at home, with its turbulent neighbours, the Scots. Portuguese envoys, therefore, at the English court represented to Henry VIII. the whole family of the Bartons as pirates, who indiscriminately plundered the ships of every country; and they charged Andrew, in particular, with these offences, and represented how desirable it would be if the English seas could be rid of his presence. Henry listened to these suggestions, and, with his wonted impetuosity, assented to their fulfilment, although a war with Scotland was at that time the least desirable event that could have befallen him. It has also been alleged by English writers, that Andrew Barton, in his war against the Portuguese, had not been overscrupulous in confining himself to his letters of reprisal, but had also overhauled and pillaged English vessels, under the pretext that they had Portuguese goods on board. Such, at least, was generally believed in England; and the Earl of Surrey, to whom the naval affairs of the kingdom chiefly belonged, is declared to have sworn that the narrow seas should no longer be thus infested, while his estate could furnish a ship, or his family a son to command it.

The threat of Surrey was not an idle one. He fitted out two men-of-war, one of them the largest in the English navy, and sent them under the command of his sons, Lord Thomas Howard, and Sir Edward Howard, afterwards lord high admiral, to find and encounter the terrible Scottish seaman. They had not long to seek, for in the Downs they were apprised of his neighbourhood by the captain of a merchant vessel which he had plundered on the day preceding. Barton had just returned from a cruise against the Portuguese, with two ships, one the Lion, which himself commanded, and the other a small armed pinnace. When the Howards approached, they hoisted no war signal, but merely put up a willow wand on their masts, as if they were peaceful traders; but when Andrew Barton approached, they hoisted their national flag, and fired a broadside into his vessel. On finding that he had enemies to deal with, although they were of superior force, he fearlessly advanced to the encounter. Distinguished