iews there can be no doubt. She drew the attention of
the French court to the frequent intercourse between the nobles of
Protestant views in France and Scotland, and to the encouragement the
Scots had from the French; but she gave the assurance that she would
soon finish with the Scots if she received support. Some French
companies had just landed at Leith, they had brought with them
munitions of war and money: the Regent demanded four companies more,
to make up twenty, and perhaps 100 hommes d'armes; if only four French
ships were stationed at Leith to keep off foreign assistance, she
pledged herself to put down the movement everywhere.[201]

Then the Scots also decided that they must employ their utmost means
of resistance. They had framed politico-religious theories, in virtue
of which they believed in their right to do so. The substance of the
whole is that they acknowledged indeed an obligation on the conscience
which required obedience to the sovereign, but at the same time they
held that the obligation came to an end as soon as the sovereign
contravened the known will of God: an idolatrous sovereign, so said
the preachers, could be deposed and punished:--should the supreme Head
put off the reform which was required by God's law, the right and the
duty of executing it falls on the subordinate authorities.

But the lords claimed also an authority based on the laws of the land.
When the French troops began to fortify Leith, they held themselves
justified in raising remonstrances against it: they demanded that the
Regent should desist from the design. As she replied with a
proclamation which sounded very offensive to themselves, they had no
scruple in taking up arms. Each noble collected his men round him and
appeared at their head in the field. Relying on the fine army which
was thus brought together, they repeated their demand, with the
remark, that in receiving foreign troops into the harbour-town there
was involved a manifest attempt to enslave the land by force: if the
Regent would not lend an ear to their remonstrances, they being the
hereditary councillors of the crown, they would remember their oath
which bound them to provide for the general welfare. The Regent
expressed her astonishment to the lords through a herald that there
should be any other authority in the realm than that of her daughter,
the Queen. She already felt herself strong enough to order them and
their troops to disperse, on pain of the pun