Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 3.djvu/373

1521.] once and for ever. Should the Princess Mary die, and the Scottish sovereign claim to inherit as a right, every English sword would be drawn to resist him; could the betrothal be arranged, he might come in peaceably under a parliamentary sanction, and the enmity of centuries would terminate in the union of the Crocus. 'It was not his fault,' Henry wrote to the Scottish council, 'that there was not perpetual amity between the two kingdoms;' he was not seeking to gratify any poor ambition. He desired nothing but the real welfare of Scotland; and 'the Scots, if they accepted his proposal, would not come over to the Government of the English, but the English to that of the Scots.'

Although the Earl of Angus was in exile, there were statesmen in Edinburgh not wholly deaf to reasonable arguments. In a discussion of the English overtures, it was admitted that, after all, the Scots and English were one people, 'born in the same island, brought up under the same climate, agreeing in language, manners, laws, and customs.' They were rather one nation than two, while they differed from the French in soil and climate, and character. The hostility of France could not injure Scotland; the friendship of France could scarcely be of benefit to her; while England must be either her most valuable ally or most dangerous enemy. But although reason could make itself heard, sentiment was still too strong for it. Constant, like the English, to their traditionary habits, the