pecting too much from
human nature, even in its best and highest forms, to look for anything
else. Neither can we free him from the charge of dissimulation in that
he swore a fealty to Baliol, which it is plain he never intended to
observe, and affected gratitude and attachment for the English monarch,
while in secret he was preparing to undermine him. An excuse for this
has been sought by his more partial admirers in the necessity of the
case, arising from the well-known sagacity of Edward, who would
otherwise have penetrated his purposes and crushed them in the bud
without scruple. Nor was this the only obstacle in his path to empire.
Upon the failure of Baliol and his only son, Edward, the ancient and
powerful family of the Comyns were ready to dispute his title to the
crown, which they claimed for themselves. John, commonly called the Red
Comyn, who had been the determined opponent of Wallace, possessed, in
the event of the monarch dying without issue, the same right to the
throne which was vested in Bruce himself. He, too, had connected himself
by marriage with the royal family of England, and was at this time one
of the most powerful subjects in Scotland. When Baliol leagued with
Comyn to throw off the supremacy of Edward, whose hand, whether justly
or not, had raised him to the Scottish throne, the Bruces and their
party, tempted by the promise of a crown, lent their best aid to the
English monarch. Upon the termination of the campaign the elder Bruce
demanded the fulfilment of Edward's promise, to which the latter
indignantly replied that he had not come into Scotland to conquer a
kingdom for him; so that Bruce reaped nothing else at the time from his
service, than the satisfaction of seeing his rival, Baliol, dethroned,
and the influence of the Comyns effectually diminished.

In 1296 Edward held a parliament at Berwick, compelling the Scotch
barons to do him homage, and the young lord of Carrick concurred in the
national submission. But notwithstanding this outward show of fealty, he
became, in the time of Wallace's success, suspected of entertaining
designs upon the crown. At first, indeed, he had joined against Wallace,
and wasted the lands of his adherent, Douglas, with fire and sword; yet,
soon after his return home, he summoned the Annandale men, who were the
vassals of his father, then in the service of Edward, and thus addressed
them: "You have already heard, without doubt, of that solemn oath, which
I l