n nor Jerusalem," said
Edward, in towering wrath, "will I depart from my just rights while
there is breath in my nostrils."

Accordingly he caused the Pope's bull to be laid before the Parliament
of England, who unanimously resolved "that in temporals the King of
England was independent of Rome, and that they would not permit his
sovereignty to be questioned." Their declaration concludes with these
remarkable words: "We neither do, will, nor can permit our sovereign
to do anything to the detriment of the constitution, which we are both
sworn to and are determined to maintain"--a spirited assertion of
national right, had it not been in so bad a cause as that of Edward's
claim of usurpation over Scotland.

Meantime the war languished during this strange discussion, from which
the Pope was soon obliged to retreat. There was an inefficient
campaign in 1299 and 1300. In 1301 there was a truce, in which
Scotland as well as France was included. After the expiry of this
breathing space, Edward I, in the spring of 1302, sent an army into
Scotland of twenty thousand men, under Sir John Seward, a renowned
general. He marched toward Edinburgh in three divisions, leaving large
intervals between each.

While in this careless order, Seward's vanguard found themselves
suddenly within reach of a small but chosen body of troops, amounting
to eight thousand men, commanded by Sir John Comyn, the guardian, and
a gallant Scottish knight, Sir Simon Fraser. Seward was defeated, but
the battle was scarce over when his second division came up. The
Scots, flushed with victory, reestablished their ranks, and having
cruelly put to death their prisoners, attacked and defeated the second
body also. The third division came up in the same manner. Again it
became necessary to kill the captives, and to prepare for a third
encounter. The Scottish leaders did so without hesitation, and their
followers, having thrown themselves furiously on the enemy,
discomfited that division likewise, and gained--as their historians
boast--three battles in one day.

But the period seemed to be approaching in which neither courage nor
exertion could longer avail the unfortunate people of Scotland. A
peace with France, in which Philip the Fair totally omitted all
stipulations in favor of his allies, left the kingdom to its own
inadequate means of resistance, while Edward directed his whole force
against it. The castle of Brechin, under the gallant Sir Thomas Maule,
ma