" 1

signing the Treaty of Edinburgh, had explicitly renounced her claim to Elizabeth's crown. "The Scottish Queen," Mr Burton asserts, "by declining to accept of the Treaty of Edinburgh, adhered to her claim on the English throne; but the provision in the Treaty to which Mary prudently and reasonably demurred (as it seems to me) was, that she and her husband should "in all times coming" abstain from bearing the English title. Could these words be construed into an absolute renunciation of her right, or could they not? If they could not, then Maitland was over scrupulous; but if (by any license of diplomacy or verbal ingenuity) they were capable of being so construed, he was bound to protect the Scottish interest in the succession "by declining to accept of the Treaty."

It does not appear to me that the opposite view can be seriously argued; even Cecil himself ultimately allowed that it could not. We shall see indeed that, as time wore on, the ground of debate was gradually shifted,-the reasonableness of Mary's contention being in the end expressly recognised by Elizabeth's Ministers.

No one can doubt that Maitland ardently desired the union of the nations. He was in

1 History of Scotland, iv. 289.

2 The Treaty is printed in Haynes.

deed all his life a passionate Unionist, and for union he was ready to sacrifice much that to a Scotsman was dear. He adhered steadily to Mary Stuart; she had interested him, and perhaps fascinated him, as we have seen; but his loyalty to her cause is mainly to be ascribed, I believe, to the clear conviction that under no other ruler could the nations be brought together. To every Scotsman who might otherwise have aspired to the Scottish crown-to Arran, to Darnley, to the Lord James-there was one insuperable objection, his accession would make union impossible. Failing Elizabeth and the issue of Elizabeth, Mary was the undoubted heir of Henry VII.; and the English people would have Mary, and Mary only.

It was during the years of which I am now writing that is to say, between 1561 and 1566 -that Maitland was most powerful; his authority with Mary, if not with Elizabeth, was unbounded; and our estimate of the policy which he pursued at this time must largely determine our judgment of his capacity and sagacity as a statesman of the first rank. I do not wish my conclusions to be taken on trust; his own letters are in evidence; and from these a fairly intelligible view of his attitude to the great public affairs in which he was engaged may be obtained. They are sometimes enig

matical, often elliptical; but, as a rule, “the mark at which he constantly shot" (to use his favourite expression), is defined with entire lucidity and eminent frankness.

66

Maitland's commanding position at this time is attested by all his contemporaries. He was the real ruler of Scotland during the comparatively peaceful and prosperous years that succeeded Mary's return. Moray might be in greater place, and the Calvinistic historians were naturally desirous to associate the name of their most eminent leader with the firm yet judicious conduct of public affairs which characterised the administration; yet even Moray's eulogists are constrained to admit that he was skilfully seconded by Maitland. Moray employed as his chief counsellor," this is Buchanan's testimony-"William Maitland, a young man of prodigious ability, whose brilliant talents had already lent lustre to his career, and excited the liveliest expectations of future excellence. By their firmness and wisdom entire tranquillity was preserved, both at home and abroad, a state of affairs agreeable to all good men, and disagreeable to the factious only." If the records of the secret diplomacy of the time are to be trusted, it was Maitland, however, rather than Moray, who was the master spirit at Mary's Court. Moray's grave and decorous walk in life is mildly approved; but

Lethington is the dominating personality, and his political influence is unbounded. He was the principal Secretary (the Secretary of State, as we would say); a member of the Privy Council; the envoy to Elizabeth and Catherine of Medicis; Mary's closest and most trusted adviser.

The union of the kingdoms; the ratification of the Treaty of Edinburgh; the succession to the English crown; the Queen's marriage; were among the most urgent of the controversies that engaged the attention of diplomatists during the comparatively peaceful years that preceded the Darnley misadventure; and on all these questions Lethington was the spokesman of the Scottish Government. But he was more. Randolph's letters indicate unmistakably that the Secretary's judgment was the determining factor in any resolution taken at Holyrood. On all questions of foreign or domestic policy his opinion was decisive. In the lively letters of Elizabeth's envoy, from which some extracts may here be given-letters which throw a vivid light upon the scenes in which, and the men among whom, he moved-the Lord of Lethington is unquestionably the most interesting and imposing figure.

I had brought the narrative of events in an earlier chapter to the period of Mary's return to Scotland. Soon after her return Lethington was

despatched with a conciliatory message to Elizabeth; and it was during his absence that Randolph was for the first time presented to Mary. "She spake nothing to me at the time of my tarrying here," he reported to Elizabeth, "but after my departure, told my Lord James she perceived that your mind was that I should remain here. And after some words, both in earnest and mirth, had between them of my doings here in times past,- Well,' saith she, 'I am content that he tarry, but I'll have another there as crafty as he.' Lord James that these

I threatened

I threatened upon the

words were rather his

1

than her Majesty's; but, however it be, there is one presently of hers with your Majesty that can play his part with craft enough." Mary was absent from Edinburgh when Maitland returned; but Randolph saw him as he passed to the Court. "He was as greedy to hear news of this country as I was desirous to hear of mine. I find that his absence hath nothing hindered his credit. It is suspected that the Lord James seeketh too much his own advancement, which hitherto little appeareth for anything he