espoil them, it was felt
that strong measures must be adopted for their suppression and punishment.
The Border reivers regarded the law with a feeling akin to contempt. They
were disposed to look upon the statutes of the realm as so many old wives'
fables; and, truth to speak, they were often of not much more account. The
policy of the wardens was too frequently one of mere self-aggrandizement,
and so long as their individual interests were not imperilled they looked
on with a kind of placid indifference at the misdoings of those whom it
was their duty, if not their interest, to control. When James VI. came to
Dumfries, to "daunton the thieves" in that district of the country, his
time was mainly occupied in meting out summary punishment to men of high
social position, whose "thefts, herschips, and slaughters" had become
notorious, and cried aloud for vengeance. There were, no doubt, many of
the commonality as well, who at this time were made to suffer for their
crimes, but as these cases were generally dealt with by subordinate
officials, they do not come so prominently before us. "Nothing is more
remarkable," says Sir Herbert Maxwell, "than the light thrown on the
social state of Scotland at this time by the justiciary records. By far
the larger part of the criminals dealt with at the King's 'justice aires'
were men of good position, barons and landowners, burgesses or provosts of
burghs. The humbler offenders were dealt with by the sheriff or at the
baron's courts, and do not appear; but the following extracts from the
records of the short reign of James IV., in which the culprits are all
landowners, or members of their families, in Dumfriesshire or Galloway,
illustrate the difficulty of maintaining order when the upper classes were
so unruly." Here a list of names is appended, in which such well-known
personages as Murray, Jardine, Herries, Bell, Dinwoodie, Lindsay, Douglas,
&c., appear. These men stand charged with high treason,
forethought--felony, slaughter, horse-stealing, and other heinous
offences. Some were pardoned, others respited, the horse-stealer was
called upon to make restitution,--a severe sentence,--and Lindsay of
Wauchope, who had slain a messenger-at-arms, was condemned to death, and
his estates forfeited. In the accounts of expenditure incurred by the King
during this visit to Dumfries some curious items appear. Here are a few
samples. _Item_, to the man that hangit the thieves at the
Hallirlaws,--x