In support of the French troops which were at
her disposal, the Regent ordered levies from Clydesdale, Stirlingshire,
and the Lothians to meet her at Stirling on May 24th. On their part the
insurgents strengthened the defences of Perth--according to Buchanan,
the only walled town in Scotland--and addressed themselves to their
brethren in Ayrshire for instant succor. As they were now engaged in
what might be construed as rebellion, they took steps to justify
themselves in the eyes of the world. In three manifestoes, probably the
work of Knox, they addressed respectively the Regent, D'Oysel, the
French ambassador, and the whole Scottish nobility. In view of the past
history of Scotland the insurgents could present a case which possessed
sufficient plausibility. It had been the exception for the reign of a
Scottish king to pass without some more or less serious revolt on the
ground of his alleged misgovernment. Even during the reign with which we
are dealing, there had been a fair precedent for the late proceedings of
the Congregation. At the outset of the reign, the Earl of Arran was
giving away the country to England and to heresy; Beaton and the French
party had taken up arms against him, and undone all his actions to which
they objected. But as Mary of Lorraine was now governing the country,
the danger of a French conquest was much more serious than had been the
danger of conquest by England.
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