Page:Robert the Bruce and the struggle for Scottish independence - 1909.djvu/75



Of course, the two phrases printed in italics were utterly irreconcilable with each other, as was to appear hereafter.

Next, on August 28th, Edward appointed Anthony Beck, Bishop of Durham, as his lieutenant in Scotland "to act in concert with the Guardians, and by the advice of the prelates and nobles of the realm." Edward further demanded that all the fortresses of Scotland should be given up to him "because of certain perils and suspicions of which he had heard." This the Scottish commissioners refused to do, but they undertook to hand the castles over to the Queen and her intended consort as their joint sovereigns.

The fair project for the union of the two kingdoms was suddenly shattered by a calamity, of which it is impossible to write without chagrin, even after the lapse of six hundred years.

King Edward directed a large ship to be fitted