Page:Great Men and Famous Women Volume 5.djvu/168

 104 WORKMEN AND HEROES duces exercitis regni Scotise, et communitas, eiusdem regni" - like the Hexham protection but without any mention of King John. After his triumphal return from his incursion into England, Wallace assumed the title of Guardian of the Kingdom in the name of King John, whether for- mally invested with that dignity or only hailed as such by the gratitude of his countrymen. In a charter, printed in Anderson's " Diplomata," conferring the constabulary of Dundee on Alexander Skirmischur (Scrimgeour) and his heirs, and dated at Torphichen (in the county of Linlithgow) March 29, 1 298, he styles himself, " Willelmus Walays miles, Gustos Regni Scotiae, et ductor exer- cituum ejusdem, nomine praeclari principis Domini Johannis, Dei gratia Regis Scotiae illustris, de consensu communitatis ejusdem." The grant is stated to have been made with the consent and approbation of the nobility (" per consensum et assensum magnatum dicti regni.") But this supreme elevation did not last long. Supported only by his own merits and the admiration and attachment of his humbler fellow-countrymen, Wallace, a new man, and without family connection, would probably have found it difficult or impossible to retain his high place, even if he had had nothing more to contend with than domestic jealousy and dissatisfaction. Fordun re- lates that many of the nobility were in the habit of saying, " We will not have this man to rule over us." Meanwhile the energetic English king, who had been abroad when the defeat of Stirling Bridge lost him Scotland, had now returned home, and was already on his march toward the borders at the head of a powerful army. A body of English, which had landed in the north of Fife, led by Aymer de Vallois, Earl of Pembroke, is said by the Scottish authorities to have been attacked and routed by Wallace on June 1 2, 1 298, in the forest of Blackironside, in that county; but when the two main armies met on July 22d, in the neighborhood of Falkirk the Scots commanded by Wallace, the English by their king in person the former, after a gallant and obstinate resistance, were at last forced to give way, and the battle ended in a universal rout accompanied with immense slaughter. This defeat did not put an end to the war ; but it was taken advantage of by the Scottish nobility to deprive Wallace of his office of guardian or chief gov- ernor of the kingdom. The Scottish accounts say that he voluntarily resigned the supreme power ; it is certain, at any rate, that Bruce, his rival Comyn, and Lamberton, Bishop of St. Andrew's, were now appointed joint guardians of Scok land, still in the name of Baliol. For some years after this our accounts of Wal- lace are slight and obscure ; but he appears to have returned with a chosen band of followers to the practice of the desultory warfare in which he had originally distinguished himself. The legendary histories continue to detail his deeds of prowess performed in harassing the enemy both on their marches and in their camps and strongholds. And to fill up the story, they also make him to have paid two visits to France the first in 1300, the second in 1302. The next well- ascertained fact regarding him is that when the Scottish leaders were at last obliged to submit to Edward at Strathorde, on February 9, 1304, Wallace was