Page:Life of Sir William Wallace.pdf/15

 in consequence of bad seasons, and the devastations of a long protracted war, was utterly unable to support its own population. To afford, therefore, a temporary relief to the pressure of the famine with which they were threatened, an invasion of England was determined on, and almost all the military force of Scotland, under the command of Wallace and the young Sir Andrew Moray, whose father fell at Stirling, poured into the northern counties of England. Berwick was re-taken, and the whole country reduced to a complete state of desolation, for Wallace was often unable to restrain the excesses of his soldiers, who spared neither age nor sex. "Abide with me," said he, to the monks of Hexham, when, complaining of the disorderly conduct of his troops, "there alone can you be secure, for my people are evil-doers, and I may not punish them."—— Wallace led back his men in triumph, laden with plunder, after a stay in England of three weeks, during which they laid waste that wide tract of country, from Cockermouth and Carlisle, to the gates of Newcastle.

The government, for a time, remained in the hands of Wallace and his associates, who now assumed the title of governor of the kingdom: although he, as well as the rest of the nation, declared that they fought no less for Baliol's rights, as their own. Under this name, on the 29th March 1298, he conferred the gift of the constabulary of Dundee on Alexander, named Skirmischur, and his heirs, for his faithful services. This grant is said to have been made with the consent of the Scottish nobles, but it is from this period that the hatred and jealousy of Wallace may be dated. His activity and zeal was a reproach on their criminal indolence, while his elevation wounded their pride.