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BEA imminent dangers which threatened the church, and laid before them the measures which he wished them to adopt for the suppression of heresy. His recommendations were immediately adopted, processes were instituted against several of the Reformers, and Sir John Borthwick, provost of Linlithgow, son of Lord Borthwick, one of the most distinguished of their number, was cited to appear before the assembly, on an accusation of heresy. Sir John, however, had prudently taken refuge in England, where he was cordially welcomed by Henry VIII.; and on his failure to appear, he was condemned and excommunicated, his goods confiscated, and his effigy burnt at the market-cross.

At this juncture Henry VIII., having thrown off the authority of the Romish see, was exceedingly anxious to induce his nephew, James, to follow his example; and with this view sent Sir Ralph Sadler, an able and crafty diplomatist, into Scotland, for the purpose of persuading the Scottish monarch to withdraw his confidence from Beaton, and to renounce the papal supremacy. But the attempt was completely unsuccessful. James declared his conviction of the cardinal's loyalty, and refused to adopt the measures which his uncle recommended. "I assure your majesty," said Sadler, "he excused the cardinal in everything, and seemed wondrous loath to hear of anything that should sound as an untruth in him, but rather gave him great praise." Henry then renewed his proposal for a personal conference with James at York, and the Scottish monarch was at length induced by his uncle's importunity to give a reluctant consent to the proposal. But the cardinal and clergy, justly dreading the effect which an agreement of the two kings would have upon the interests of the Scottish church, entreated James to absent himself from the proposed conference, and by their urgent representations, and promises of large sums of money, they succeeded in persuading him to remain at home. This violation of his promise exasperated the English king against his relative, and led to a war between the two countries, which indirectly proved fatal to the Scottish monarch (13th December, 1542). The sudden death of James compelled the cardinal to change his tactics, but did not interfere with his ambitious projects. It is stated both by John Knox and Sir David Lindsay, and confirmed by the authority of the governor, Arran, that when the king was on his deathbed, Beaton succeeded in obtaining his signature to a blank sheet of paper, on which he afterwards wrote a will, nominating himself Regent, with three of the nobility as his assessors or assistants. On the Monday following the king's death, he caused himself to be proclaimed Regent at the cross of Edinburgh; but the validity of the document was at once questioned by the Protestant and English party, and it was soon after annulled by the parliament. James, earl of Arran, presumptive heir to the crown, was appointed sole Regent in the spring of 1543, and the ambitious primate was stripped of all authority in the government.

Meanwhile the English king had resolved to take advantage of the untimely death of James, and the disastrous state of affairs in Scotland, to bring that kingdom under the dominion of England, by a marriage between his son Edward and the infant Scottish queen. This project, however, was strenuously opposed by Beaton, who saw in it the total overthrow of the Romish church in Scotland. He was therefore arrested, and confined in the castle of Blackness, by the governor, at the instigation of the English faction, on pretence that he was engaged in a treasonable correspondence with France. The imprisonment of the primate produced a great sensation among the clergy, who immediately laid the country under a religious interdict. A strong reaction took place throughout the nation in favour of the cardinal, and against the English alliance; and the violent and precipitate conduct of Henry contributed greatly to strengthen the dislike with which his project was regarded. (See .) The governor himself began to waver, and was at length persuaded to connive at the cardinal's escape from confinement.

The feeble and vacillating Arran was soon after completely gained over by the primate, and on the 3d of September, 1543, abjured the Protestant faith, and delivered up his eldest son to the custody of Beaton as a hostage for his sincerity. The popular feeling continued to ran strong against the English alliance, and the clergy declared their readiness not only to devote their private fortunes, but to melt down the church plate if necessary, and even to take up arms in defence of the religion and independence of the country. The party of the primate obtained a complete ascendency over the English faction among the nobles, and Beaton speedily became the custodier of the young queen's person, and the most powerful man in the kingdom. About the beginning of 1544 he was appointed the papal legate, and accompanied by Arran, Argyll, and other nobles and several prelates, he undertook a progress through the country for the purpose of suppressing the Reformed doctrines, which had already made numerous converts in Scotland. At Perth he caused four men to be tried and hanged; three of them for eating a goose during Lent, and the fourth for interrupting an ecclesiastic while preaching, and denying the validity of prayers to saints. The wife of one of these martyrs was drowned, because she had refused to pray to the Virgin Mary for help in childbirth. Several of the citizens were banished, and Lord Ruthven was deposed from the office of provost on account of his supposed leaning to the Protestant faith.

Meanwhile Henry, enraged at the refusal of the Scots to fulfil the engagement they had entered into for the marriage of their young queen to his son, sent a powerful army under the earl of Hertford to invade Scotland, with instructions to lay waste the country with the most savage ferocity, and especially to direct their vengeance against the cardinal and his friends. "You are to burn Edinburgh," he said in his written directions to Hertford, "and raze the castle, putting man, woman, and child to fire and sword where any resistance shall be made against you. And this done, pass over to Fifeland and extend like extremities, and destruction to all towns and villages where- into you may reach conveniently, not forgetting amongst all the rest, so to spoil and turn upside down the cardinal's town of St. Andrews, as the upper stone may be the nether, and not one stock stand by another, sparing no creature alive within the same, specially such as either in friendship or blood be allied to the cardinal." The English general was not able to penetrate to St. Andrews, but he carried out the bloodthirsty instructions of his master by plundering and devastating the whole of the south-eastern districts of Scotland, including the capital, and destroying life and property to a vast extent. This merciless and short-sighted policy, however, served only to strengthen the hands of Beaton, and to exasperate the Scottish nation against the alliance with England. An attempt was then made by Henry to gain his end by a pacific negotiation, conducted by the earl of Cassilis, a supporter of the English faction; but his offers were rejected by a convention of the nobility, and the treaties of marriage were declared to be dissolved. Henry and his Scottish allies threw the blame of this course upon the primate, who thus became the object of their deadliest animosity. A project was formed for his assassination by the earls of Cassilis, Glencairn, Angus, Marischal, and Sir George Douglas, and was communicated through Sir Ralph Sadler to Henry and his privy council. This infamous proposal received the immediate and cordial approval of the English monarch; but "not willing to seem to have anything to do in it, though not misliking the offer," he instructed Sadler to stimulate the conspirators to go through with their deed of blood, and to trust to the king's "accustomed goodness" for their reward. They were too cunning and cautious, however, to proceed without an explicit pledge from Henry, that he would secure them indemnity and recompense for the cardinal's murder. The plot was, therefore, for the present laid aside. A few months later, however, the project was renewed by Crichton, the laird of Brunston, who, in July, 1545, opened a communication with Sadler, "touching t he killing of the cardinal," and offering for a sum "to take him out of the way." The English ambassador, while assuring the conspirators that the king, "for sundry considerations would not have to do with this matter touching the said cardinal," yet urges them to execute this villanous design as an "acceptable service to God;" and adds, "I pray you advertise me what reward you do require, and if it be not unreasonable I will undertake it shall be paid immediately upon the act executed." Crichton, however, like his predecessors, insisted upon a distinct pledge of protection and reward from the king himself; and as Henry was still unwilling to commit himself by giving such a promise, the enterprise was once more abandoned.

There is no reason to suppose that Beaton was aware of these plots against his life, and he continued to carry through with unfaltering vigour the high-handed policy which he had adopted for the protection of the Romish church, and the suppression of the Protestant faith. One of the most eloquent and zealous