ishment appointed for high
treason. On this the great men met in the old council-house at
Edinburgh, to consider the question whether it was obligatory to pay
obedience to a princess, who was but regent, and who disregarded the
opinion of the hereditary councillors of the crown. The consultation,
at which some preachers supported the views of the lords with similar
arguments, ended in the declaration that the Regent no longer
possessed an authority which she was using to the damage of the realm.
In the name of the King and Queen they announced to her that the
commission she had received from them was at an end. 'And as your
Grace,' so they continued, 'will not acknowledge us as your
councillors, we also will no longer acknowledge you as our
regent.'[202]

To this pass matters had now come. The combined interests, on the one
side of the crown and the clergy, on the other of the lords and the
Protestants, came into open and avowed conflict. The Act of Suspension
is but the proclamation of war in a form which would enable them to
avoid directly breaking with their duties towards their born prince.

The lords' first enterprise was directed against the French troops
which held Leith in their possession, and which were now first of all
to be driven out of the country: but the hastily-constructed
fortifications there proved stronger than was expected. And not merely
were their assaults on Leith repelled, but the Lords soon saw
themselves driven from their strongest positions, for instance from
Stirling; their possessions were wasted far and wide; the war, which
was transferred to Fife, took an unfortunate turn for them; to all
appearance they were lost if they did not obtain help from abroad.

But to whom could they apply for it if not to their neighbour, just
now rising in power, Elizabeth Queen of England?

They might have hesitated, as they had indeed repelled the influence
of Henry VIII and of Somerset, even when it was united with reforming
tendencies. But how entirely different were matters now from what they
had been then! With their own hands they had already given themselves
a Protestant church-system, which was national in a high degree, and
somewhat opposite to the English one. So long as it existed, the
influence England would gain by giving them help could never become
the supremacy, at which it is certain attempts had previously been
made.

We know too the objections which were made in England against a uni