Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 54.djvu/306

 Melville was sent by the king of France to sound Lord James as to his real intentions. To his inquiries Lord James replied, with at least perfectly conclusive logic, that, so far from desiring the crown, he was prepared, if toleration to the protestants were guaranteed, to accept for himself perpetual banishment from Scotland, provided only that his rents were sent to him in France. He succeeded in convincing Melville of his disinterestedness; but he could scarcely expect to be taken at his word, and he was not.

If the conduct of the queen regent rendered a change of government necessary, it was as likely as not that Lord James would be chosen regent in her stead. On 27 Jan. 1558–9 Throgmorton wrote to Cecil regarding secret information that a party was being formed to place Lord James in supreme power (Cal. State Papers, For. 1558–9, No. 1080), and there are various contemporary rumours to a like effect. Nevertheless Lord James acted throughout with perfect fairness and prudence, and his position is logically unassailable. Whether it was that he judged that the time had not yet come, or that he cherished no such ambitions as were ascribed to him, he never, so far as is known, gave the slightest encouragement to the notion that personally he was the rival of the queen regent. On the contrary, it was probably at his suggestion that James Hamilton, second earl of Arran and duke of Châtelherault [q. v.], was induced in September 1559 formally to join the protestant party as its recognised head. But again there is no proof that in supporting the duke he was entirely disinterested; the introduction of the duke may or may not have been a device to divert suspicion from himself. The issues were complicated and uncertain, and in any case his accession to the regency was as yet probably not regarded by him as within the range of practical politics. The two urgent essentials were to strengthen the hands of the reformed party in Scotland, and to secure the active support of Elizabeth. Therefore, while replying to the remonstrances of the king of France, Queen Mary, and the queen regent with the same emphatic expression of his desire for ‘the quietness of the realm,’ and with the assurance that if the queen regent would accede to the reasonable demands of the reformers, he would do his utmost to support her authority, Lord James was doing his utmost to obtain the help of Elizabeth to expel the French from Scotland, and thus leave the queen regent without the only support that could maintain her in power. Moreover, as Mary Stuart since 10 July 1559 had been queen of France, the expulsion from Scotland of her own troops was clearly in open defiance of her authority, and practically amounted to a renunciation of her sovereignty.

A contest of the most momentous nature thus seemed imminent, and that the sovereignty of the young queen was not overthrown was mainly due to unforeseen accidents. The queen regent resolved to proceed with the fortification of Leith, and when, on 12 Oct., the reformers entered Edinburgh with a force of twelve thousand men, she retired within her fortifications. On the 28th she was formally suspended from the regency. Lord James, a bold and skilful soldier, took an active part in the skirmishes which broke the monotony of the siege, but without much success. On 21 Oct. he and Argyll vainly endeavoured with a party of horse to capture the Earl of Bothwell, who had seized from the laird of Ormiston the money sent by Elizabeth to the help of the reformers (, i. 456). On 5 Nov. a force under Lord James and James Hamilton, third earl of Arran [q. v.], was severely defeated by the French near Restalrig, and the misfortune so dismayed the reformers that ‘men did so steal away that the wit of man could not stay them’ (ib. p. 464). It was therefore determined that a special appeal should be made to Elizabeth for assistance, and that meanwhile, Edinburgh being evacuated, the forces of the congregation should divide into two parties, one proceeding to the west and the other, under Arran and Lord James, occupying Fife. Learning that the French were moving eastwards from Stirling, Arran and Lord James assembled their forces at Cupar Muir, whence they proceeded to defend the towns on the south coast of Fife. Here, though much inferior in numbers to the enemy, they maintained not unequally a desperate struggle, until the appearance of English ships in the Firth of Forth caused the French to retreat hastily again towards Stirling (ib. ii. 9–13;, State Papers, i. 684). In February 1559–60 he was, with several other leaders, delegated to negotiate at Berwick a treaty with the English commissioners by which Elizabeth agreed to assist the Scots in expelling the French from Scotland, the Scots undertaking, in accordance with Elizabeth's jealous regard for sovereign rights, to remain loyal to the queen of Scotland and her husband, so far as was consistent with the ancient laws and liberties of the kingdom (treaty in, ii. 46–52). The English army entered