Scottish throne, and for this purpose
he entered into an agreement with the Scottish prisoners taken at Solway
Moss. They professed themselves willing to seize Mary and Cardinal
Beaton, and so to deprive the national party of their leaders. Then came
the news that the Earl of Arran had been appointed regent in December,
1542. He was heir-presumptive to the throne, and so was unlikely to
acquiesce in Henry's scheme, and the traitors were instructed to deal
with him as they thought necessary. But the traitors, who had, of
course, been joined by the Earl of Angus, proved false to Henry and were
falsely true to Scotland. They imprisoned Beaton, but did not deliver
him up to the English, and they came to terms with Arran; nor did they
carry out Henry's projects further than to permit the circulation of
"haly write, baith the new testament and the auld, in the vulgar toung",
and to enter into negotiations for the marriage of the young queen to
the Prince of Wales, afterwards Edward VI. The conditions they made were
widely different from those suggested by Henry. Full precautions were
taken to secure the independence of the country both during Mary's
minority and for the future. Strongholds were to be retained in Scottish
hands; should there be no child of the marriage, the union would
determine, and the proper heir would succeed to the Scottish throne. In
any case, no union of the kingdoms was contemplated, although the crowns
might be united. These terms were slightly modified in the following
May. Beaton, who had escaped to St. Andrews, did not oppose the treaty,
but made preparations for war. The treaty was agreed to, and the war of
intrigues went on, Henry offering almost any terms for the possession of
the little queen. Finally, in September, Arran joined the cardinal,
became reconciled to the Church, and left Henry to intrigue with the
Earl of Lennox, the next heir after Arran.

Hostilities broke out in the end of 1543, when the Scots, enraged by
Henry's having attacked some Scottish shipping, declared the treaty
annulled. In the spring of 1544, the Earl of Hertford conducted his
expedition into Scotland. The "English Wooing", as it was called, took
the form of a massacre without regard to age or sex. The instructions
given to Hertford by Henry and his council read like quotations from the
book of Joshua. He was to leave none remaining, where he encountered any
resistance. Hertford, abandoning the usual methods of Engli