who liberally rewarded the assassin, had incalculably injured her cause in Scotland, and rendered Morton's hostility more implacable than ever. He was now strenuous in his efforts to induce Elizabeth to declare for the king, informing her at last that if she would not supply him with money and men to punish the Hamiltons, the instigators of the murder, ‘he would not run her course any longer’ (instructions to the commendator of Dunfermline, 1 May). The threat was effectual, and she permitted Sussex to advance into Scotland to aid in suppressing the Hamilton rebellion. Notwithstanding Elizabeth's dubious attitude towards the proposal for the election of Lennox, father of Darnley, to the regency, Morton persisted in it, and the election finally took place on 12 July. Lennox was, however, only the nominal head of the government, which was really controlled by Morton. Drury in a letter to Cecil pronounces Morton the ‘strongest man in Scotland’ (Cal. State Papers, For. Ser. 1569–71, entry 184), and now that Moray was no more, and Maitland and Kirkaldy had gone over to the queen's party, he was, if Knox be excepted, the only strong man left of the king's party. Between Morton and Knox there was now an intimate alliance. During an embassy to London in February 1571, Morton succeeded in deferring indefinitely the proposals for an arrangement with Mary, and on his return his party expressed their gratitude by bestowing on him the incongruous office of bishop of St. Andrews, as a compensation for the expenses he had at various times incurred in the public service. With his return the efforts were renewed against the queen's party. Kirkaldy and Maitland held Edinburgh Castle on the queen's behalf. The varying moods of Elizabeth protracted the uncertainty. By her secret encouragement both of Morton and Maitland, and her denial of help to either, Scotland was desolated by a prolonged feud. The regent was unpopular among the nobles, and, as appears from numerous letters in the ‘State Papers,’ the dislike was fully shared in by Morton, who now succeeded in winning to the king's party the Earls of Argyll, Cassilis, and Eglinton, and also Lord Boyd (ib. Scot. Ser. i. 323). Elizabeth was endeavouring to gain Morton's services for purposes which do not appear to have been quite plain even to herself. Morton, while acknowledging with gratitude her somewhat stingy bribes, was courteously professing himself to be at her commands (ib. For. Ser. 1569–71, entry 1937); and Drury seems to have supposed that ‘she might use him to quench the fire among them [the nobles] or to make the flame break out further’ (Drury to Burghley, ib. 1943). The plain fact seems to have been that Morton was scheming to effect the regent's overthrow. Morton's embarrassment in regard to Lennox was terminated by the party of the queen, whose bold stratagem, 4 Sept. 1571, of surprising the lords at Stirling had just sufficient success to defeat their own plans. By a curious accident it was also the strenuous resistance offered by Morton until the house he lodged in was set on fire that prevented the catastrophe to his party from being complete (anonymous letter to Drury, 4 Sept.; ib. to Burghley, 5 Sept.; Maitland to Drury, 6 Sept.). The regent was shot by a trooper, Cawdor, at the instance of Lord Claud Hamilton, but Morton, on whom the Hamiltons intended also to have taken vengeance, was saved by the interposition of the laird of Buccleuch, who took him prisoner, and whom Morton, when the retreat began, in turn took prisoner, remarking ‘I will save ye as ye savit me’ (Diurnal of Occurrents, p. 248; Bannatyne, Memorials, p. 184).
On Mar being chosen regent, Morton, who with Argyll had been a candidate at the same time, was appointed lord general of the kingdom. Mar enjoyed such general respect that probably under his auspices a general pacification might soon have been brought about but for the extraordinary sensation caused by the news of the massacre of St. Bartholomew. The result of this was the proposal of Elizabeth for the delivering up of Mary to her enemies in Scotland. The blood of the reforming party was then at fever heat, and, counselled and incited by Knox, Morton entered into the project with fervour. It was less congenial to the milder nature of Mar, but Morton either overcame his scruples or compelled him to conceal them. At a conference on 11 Oct. in Morton's bedchamber at Dalkeith, where he was confined by sickness, Morton ‘raised himself in his bed, and said that both my lord regent and himself did desire it as a sovereign salve for all their sores.’ Morton, however, with his thorough knowledge of Elizabeth's peculiarities, was determined that her part in the project should be manifest to the world. It has been the habit of historians to denounce Morton for being concerned in the infamy of a proposal for a secret execution. Such a stigma undoubtedly attaches to Elizabeth, but Morton, if not too moral, was too wise to engage in it. He ‘stipulated for some manner of ceremony and a kind of process,’ and made it one of the essential conditions that a force of two thousand English soldiers should be present at the execution (notes given to Killigrew in writing by the abbot of Dunfermline, 24 Oct.) The negotiations suspended on
