animous and
negligent government of James. Did he not know, she asked, that the
religion of the rebels was only a cloak for treason? Would he trust
men who had so often betrayed him? He could never expect them to keep
their plighted faith in the future, if their great offences in the
past were not even acknowledged: a lax government set all turbulent
spirits in motion, and led to shipwreck. With this advice, and similar
suggestions from the clergy, came the news of fresh commotion. Francis
Stuart, who had been made Earl of Bothwell by James, but who after
this had given great trouble by frequently changing sides, had now
joined the Catholic lords; and a plan had been concerted between them
to deal with James as they had formerly dealt with his mother, to make
him prisoner, and to put the prince just born to him in his place. At
last in September 1594 we find the King again in the field. The young
Argyle, whom he sent before him as his lieutenant, was met by the
earls in open fight, but they did not venture to encounter the King
himself. He took Strathbogie, the splendid seat of the Earls of
Huntly; Slaines, the principal castle of the Earls of Errol; some
strongholds in Angus; Newton, a castle of the Gordons; and had most of
them razed. Even in these districts he proceeded at last to erect a
regular government in the name of the King. His superiority was so
decided that the earls left Scotland in the spring of 1595; Father
Gordon also followed them reluctantly, after he had once more said
mass at Elgin. But even this was not such a defeat of the Catholic
party as might have been followed by their annihilation. The earls
felt the hardships of exile with double force from the loss of the
consideration which they had enjoyed at home; and when they offered
their submission to the King, and satisfaction to the Scottish Church,
James and his Privy Council were quite ready to accede to their offer:
for they thought that disunion with his most powerful lieges lessened
the reputation of the crown, and might be very dangerous at some
future time if the throne of England became vacant; as these important
personages might then, like Coriolanus, side with the enemy.

The only question now was, how the Presbyterian Church would regard
this. James had come to a general understanding with the Church, when
they made common cause against the League. In the year 1592 an
agreement was arrived at, by which the King gave a general recognitio