Page:Cassell's Illustrated History of England vol 2.djvu/325

A.D. 1548.] Edinburgh. He took the town of Haddington, and placed in it a garrison of 2,000 men. He battered down several castles, burnt Musselburgh and Dalkeith, and had scarcely began his retreat when the aid promised by the French king arrived in the Forth. It consisted of 3,000 Germans and 2,000 French under D'Esse D'Espanviliers, a general of great talent and experience. Arran added to this welcome reinforcement 8,000 Scottish troops under his own command, and the united army sat down before Haddington. It was at first resolved to take it by storm; batteries were raised, and a breach made, but the governor, Sir John Wilford, defended the place with so much skill and obstinacy, and inflicted such slaughter on the assailants, that the besiegers were obliged to convert their siege into a blockade.

Whilst this was proceeding, Arran, who is supposed to have been won over to the French interest by a promise of the dukedom of Chatelherault and a pension from France, summoned the three estates of the kingdom to meet in the abbey of Haddington, where it was proposed to ratify the treaty agreed by the lords at Stirling for the marriage of the queen to the dauphin. It met with a strong opposition, though warmly advocated by the court and the clergy, and was finally confirmed by Arran and the French ambassador, D'Oyselles. De Breze and Villegaignon then set sail with four galleys as if to the French coast; but once out at sea, they put about, and passing round the north of Scotland, descended the western coast, and anchoring off Dumbarton, there received on board the young queen and her attendants, consisting of Lord and Lady Erskine, to whom she was especially entrusted, Lady Fleming, and 200 gentlemen and servants. The fleet reached Brest in safety on the 13th of August, when she was conducted to St. Germain-en-Laye, where she was met by the French court and immediately contracted to the dauphin, who was then about five years old, she being only a few months older. There was the end of all the violence, the sanguinary slaughters, the intrigues and bribery of Henry VIII. and of Somerset, to obtain the hand of the queen for the young King of England, which might have been secured by fair and honourable means. France had now contrived to snatch her away from them, and the ostensible object of the war was at an end. Henry II. of France forthwith demanded that the English should desist from all hostility against the Scots during the minority of the two princes.

Somerset refused to comply with this demand, and the war continued; he entered into secret negotiations with the Earl of Argyll, and Lord Gray had orders to do all in his power to drive the French auxiliaries from the country. Haddington was strictly besieged by the French and Scotch, and the garrison was reduced to such extremity that their powder began to fail, and they were obliged to tear up their shirts to use instead of matches. At length, a body of 200 English found means, probably by the use of their great instrument, money, to pass the watches on the side where the Scotch lay, and throw into the town considerable supplies of ammunition and provisions. A similar attempt by Sir Thomas Palmer and Sir Robert Bowes, at the head of 2,000 horse, was intercepted by the horse of both nations under D'Esse and Lord Hume, and put to the rout with such slaughter that few escaped.

When the news of this disaster and of the condition of the garrison in Haddington reached London, Somerset, who had now obtained letters patent from the king authorising him to call the king's subjects to arms whenever he deemed necessary, and to appoint lieutenants in his own name to command in his stead, both by sea and land, at once dispatched the Earl of Shrewsbury with 22,000 men to raise the siege and expel the French. On the approach of Shrewsbury, the enemy retired from the walls of Haddington; and the earl, who found the garrison in such distress that, according to Holinshed, he shed tears, supplied them with all things needful, and with fresh and untired men to maintain the siege. He then advanced in quest of the Scotch and French army, and found them posted at Musselburgh. Neither party, however, showed any great desire to come to blows. The united army lay still in its intrenchments, and Shrewsbury, after drawing out his forces, and watching the motionless army for the space of an hour, wheeled round and marched homewards. It is difficult to understand the proceedings of the English at this period. They seemed to have no hope nor courage for the attempt at any permanent advantage. Their sole object appeared to be to inflict an injury and retire pleased with revenge, but unambitious of any great result. What makes the conduct of the English commander the more strange is, that Lord Clinton, or Lord Seymour of Sudley, the Protector's brother, according to Burnet, at the same time had proceeded by sea with a formidable fleet to the same point, thus prepared to support any action of Shrewsbury's; yet the English admiral, whichever it was, made a still worse figure than the general. Balfour asserts that Clinton landed 5,000 men on the coast of Fife, to lay waste the country, but they were met by the laird of Wemyss and the barons of Fife, who routed them, killed 700 of them, and drove them into the sea; but Burnet has it that Seymour, the admiral, landed 1,500 men at St. Minius, or St. Monance, where, just as they had landed their cannon, they were attacked by the queen's natural brother, James Stuart, prior of St. Andrews, and afterwards the celebrated regent Murray, who killed 600, and took 100 prisoners; that they afterwards made a descent on Montrose in the night, but were attacked by the country people, under Erskine of Dun, who, of 800 who had landed, scarcely left any alive to regain their ships. Whichever of these accounts is correct, if either, the English admiral does not seem to have reaped anything but disgrace.

When Lord Shrewsbury returned, Lord Gray, who was left as lieutenant of the north, entered Scotland, and committed great havoc in Teviotdale and Liddesdale for the space of twenty miles. There were also fresh attempts of the French on Haddington, but nothing was effected during the year.

But during the session of Parliament commencing on the 24th of November, a question of most serious import was brought forward concerning the Protector's brother. The lord high admiral, Thomas Seymour, had all the ambition of his elder brother, the Protector, but from some cause he had failed to acquire the same position at court. Henry VIII. had not only employed Somerset in great commissions, but had given him such marks of his confidence that, on his death, he easily engrossed all the power of the state under his son. The admiral did not