Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 4.djvu/294

274 but those rights he was contented to waive. The Duke of Somerset resolved to distinguish his Protectorate by reviving the pretensions and renewing the policy of Edward I., by putting forward the formal claim of England to the dominion of the entire island. To Balnavis he does not seem to have hinted his intentions. Indentures were drawn between the party in the castle and the English Government, in which Leslie and his friends promised to support the Protector in the enforcement of the execution of the marriage treaty; but in none of these was the free sovereignty of Scotland called in question; it was rather admitted and confessed on the grounds which the Scots alleged for their conduct. 'If the present chance was lost,' they said, 'for the determination of a perpetual peace, with amity and love between the kingdoms, the semblable was never likely to ensue hereafter, to the displeasure of Almighty God, and to the eternal condemnation of the workers of the same in hatred, rancour, malice, and vengeance, the one against the other.'

But, although the Scots were comprehended in the treaty with France, the Protector permitted the Borders to be wasted, and fire and sword carried to their homesteads, as if they were rebels; and he communicated his more ambitious views to the French ministers, requiring them formally to abstain from interference. The reply was prompt and stern. They answered, that 'they had no concern with pretensions revived after two centuries