Page:Robert the Bruce and the struggle for Scottish independence - 1909.djvu/365

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 * Thomas, Earl of Moray. || Sir James de Douglas.
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 * Thomas, Earl of Moray. || Sir James de Douglas.
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THE CAMPAIGN OF WEARDALE AND CONCLUSION OF PEACE.

A.D. 1327-1328.

HE melancholy reign of Edward II. of England was brought to a close by his abdication or deposal on January 24, 1327. His son, a boy of fifteen, was crowned as Edward III. at Westminster on February 9th.

The subsequent sufferings of this unhappy monarch, his cruel treatment when in prison and the revolting manner in which he was done to death, are matters which have no bearing on the course of events in Scotland. It is not for Scotsmen to deplore the character of the second Edward as a ruler, seeing that his incapacity in council and his unreadiness in the field contributed almost as much to the success of the struggle for independence, as did the valour and resolution of Robert the Bruce, his captains and his people. Sir Thomas Gray, in pronouncing the following brief elegy upon Edward II., was probably 305