t outrages_ lately committed on the
Borders, to submit themselves to his mercy before the twentieth of June,
under penalty of being excluded from it for ever. Two days after this
proclamation had been made he emitted another, declaring his fixed
resolution to accomplish the union of the two realms; in consequence of
which, the bounds possessed by the rebellious Borderers should no more be
the _extremities_ but the _middle_, and the inhabitants thereof reduced to
a perfect obedience. He said that he had found in the hearts of his best
disposed subjects of both realms, a most earnest desire for this union;
and he undertook, with the advice and consent of the Estates of both
Parliaments, to bring it about. In the meantime he declared that he
considered the two kingdoms _as presently united_; and required his
subjects to view them in the same light, and in consequence thereof, to
abstain from mutual outrages and injuries of whatever kind, under the
penalty of his highest displeasure and of suffering the strictest rigour
of justice.[130]

In pursuance of this policy, and in order to extinguish all past
hostilities between his kingdoms, the King prohibited the name of
_Borders_ any longer to be used, substituting in its place the name
_Middleshires_. He also ordered all the places of strength, with the
exception of the habitations of noblemen and barons, to be demolished;
their iron gates to be converted into ploughshares; and the inhabitants
were enjoined to betake themselves to agriculture and other works of
peace.

But these severe measures, accompanied as they were by the summary
execution of large numbers of the worst characters on the Borders, who, as
we have seen, were sent to the gallows without ceremony, would not have
been sufficient of themselves to eradicate the evil. More potent
influences, however, were brought into operation. The law was now
administered, not spasmodically as before, but with a continuity and
impartiality hitherto unknown and unattainable. It was the interest of the
King and of the Government to repress disorder, to punish the lawless and
disobedient, and to establish order and good rule throughout both
kingdoms; and the consequence was that, in course of time, the Border
reivers were made to realise that they must, perforce, abandon their old
habits and betake themselves to a new mode of life. This desirable end was
not attained without difficulty. Border reiving did not altogether cease
for